Even as former state Samajwadi Party chief Shivpal Yadav met nephew and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in lucknow on Friday, the impasse continued in the ruling party even on the sixth day of the new year.
This was the first one-on-one meeting between the uncle and the nephew after Akhilesh was elected as national SP president and the same day Shivpal Yadav was dismissed from the post of state SP chief.
Shivpal Yadav held a parley with his defiant nephew at the CM’s official residence to thrash out a `compromise formula’ and patch up. Party insiders remained tight lipped on what transpired at the brief parley. Shivpal later met his brother and patriarch Mulayam Singh as well.
Sources privy to the fast-paced developments said that the Akhilesh camp is adamant that no compromise was possible without the dismissal of Amar Singh from SP and the exit of Shivpal Yadav from the state affairs.
``What sort of compromise you are talking of. Some people are deliberately spreading rumour of `compromise’ as all issues have already been decided so where is the need for any compromise. Akhilesh is the national SP president and Mulayam Singh is the patron and guardian. The national president will decide on distribution of tickets for Assembly elections,’’ said MlC Sunil Yadav MlC - a key member of Team Akhilesh.
``We are not baying for AmarSingh’s resignation as he has already been expelled from the party. If he wants to resign then he could resign from the Rajya Sabha. There is no dispute over state president too as the national SP chief has already appointed Naresh Uttam as state chief and he has taken over his new responsibility,’’ said Yadav.
An indication of the patch up emerged on Thursday night when Akhilesh Yadav planned to receive his father at Amausi airport, but later abandoned the idea upon learning that Amar Singh was accompanying Yadav Senior in the chartered flight.
Soon after Mulayam’s return from Delhi, his apolitical brothers who came here from Etawah on Thursday met the SP patriarch to end the strife in the family. The meeting lasted well beyond midnight where Akhilesh too participated. Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav son of Mulayam’s cousin Abhayram Yadav was also present in the meet.
After meeting party MlAs, MlCs and senior leaders, Akhilesh asked them to collect signed affidavits for submission to the Election Commission and asked his father to give him the party’s control for three months.
The Akhilesh camp claimed that they have collected the signature of 212 of the 229 party MlAs, 56 of the 68 MlCs, 15 of the 24 MPs of both lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and majority of the 5,000 delegates and senior leaders making it crystal clear as to which was the real Samajwadi Party.
A senior SP leader quipped, “The stalemate would have ended on Thursday itself but the arrival of Amar Singh with Mulayam Singh spoiled the matters. Singh deliberately came to lucknow on Thursday as he had got the wind that Mulayam Singh would endorse his expulsion.’’
SP sources said that Amar Singh has offered to step down from the post of general secretary while Shivpal Yadav has also agreed to move to Delhi. Yet there seems to be no solution in sight on the issue of party’s national president, which Akhilesh Yadav wrested from his father on January 1.
Sources said Akhilesh could be authorised to select candidates for the Assembly polls as per the truce but Mulayam is not ready to part with his authority over the party as national president. Besides, he is also opposed to the close ties of his son with Ram Gopal Yadav.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh strengthened his grip over the SP as on the request from his camp, all bank accounts of the party in lucknow, Delhi and Etawah were frpzen by banks. This would effectively prevent the faction led by Mulayam Singh from withdrawing funds from the accounts.
Samajwadi Party has nearly Rs 500 crore in its accounts in different banks. The party has accounts in Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, State Bank of India, Vijaya Bank and UP Co-operative Bank in lucknow and also in State Bank of India in Delhi and Bank of Baroda in Etawah.
While the party has over Rs 350 crore in fixed deposits, its accounts in SBI and BoB in lucknow have Rs 23 crore Rs 19 crore respectively. Both factions, led by Akhilesh and Mulayam, will need funds to contest upcoming Assembly polls.