Within hours of Shivpal Yadav being sacked from the UP Cabionet by Chief Minister Akhilesh yadav, Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav retaliated by expelling Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for 6 years. He is the leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, national spokesman and general secretary of the party and cousin brother of the SP supremo.
Briefing media about the decision of the party’s national president, Shivpal Yadav state president of the party alleged here on Sunday that “Ram Gopal Yadav was working at the behest of the BJP to save his son and daughter-in-law from the CBI as both are involved in the NOIDA scam in the Yadav Singh case’’. The NOIDA scam is being investigated by the CBI and NOIDA chief engineer Yadav singh and several others are in jail.
“Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is innocent and unable to differentiate between a friend and a foe. Ram Gopal is an expert in manipulations and is out to destroy the party and weaken the chief minister and the party chief for his narrow political ends,’’ alleged Shivpal Yadav adding “Ram Gopal Yadav always humiliated the leaders and the cadre of the party and never came to their rescue during their hard times’’.
Shivpal alleged that when thousands of the party workers were in jail during the previous BSP regime, Ram Gopal Yadav never bothered to visit them in jail. “Ram Gopal Yadav even insulted senior leaders like Janeshwar Mishra, Mohan Singh and Brij Bhushan Tewari. Now he has crossed the limit as we are struggling hard for the return of the party to power while Ram Gopal Yadav is vitiating the atmosphere and spreading confusion’’, charged Shivpal Yadav.
Ram Gopal Yadav had triggered off the events by dropping a letter bomb early on Sunday morning in which he said that those who were opposing Akhilesh Yadav should not be allowed to succeed and it must be ensured that such people do not reach the Vidhan Sabha again. Ram Gopal Yadav, who has sided with the nephew Akhilesh Yadav in the power struggle in the family said in the letter that “future of the party lay with Akhilesh Yadav. While no one had been specifically targeted, the letter spoke of people who had a negative mindset, “minted crores of rupees and misused power”.
In a veiled attack on Shivpal Yadav, the expelled SP leader had said, “we want the SP to form the next government under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, our mindset is positive while theirs is negative. The people on the other side are those who have minted thousands of crores of rupees by abusing power and indulged in debauchery’’.
Ram Gopal Yadav also said “such people mislead the masses and create confusion with big statements and do the drama of reconciliation’’. He added, “do not be misled by such projections and statements, the Rath Yatra announced by Akhilesh Yadav is a thorn in their flesh and we have to further sharpen this’’.
Meanwhile, sacked SP general secretary and spokesperson Ram Gopal Yadav expressed surprise over his expulsion from the party and the charges made against him by the party leaders.
“I have no grievances on my ouster from the party but I am hurt by the false charges made against me to defame me. If I had met BJP leaders or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was always a courtesy call. Modijee also came to Sefai on the invitation of Netaji,” he said. Ram Gopal Yadav also denied that he or his family members are anyway involved in any case being investigated by the CBI.