Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav said that the unity in the family was possible only if Akhilesh Yadav stepped down and handed over the post of national president to Mulayam Singh Yadav. He said that Akhilesh was responsible for the SP’s worst ever poll debacle as he was at the helm and took all important decisions during the Assembly poll.
“Akhilesh Yadav should own the moral responsibility for the crushing defeat of the party in recent Assembly poll and step down from the post of party chief. Akhilesh has abysmally failed in keeping the family and the party together after taking over as SP national president. Only he is responsible for the present dismal state of the party. He could neither handle the affairs of the party nor keep the family united,’’ said Shivpal Yadav at Jaunpur on Friday.
``In January, after taking over as SP chief Akhilesh had made two promises – SP will form the next government and he will hand over the post of national president to Netaji after the elections. But SP failed to form the government so he should at least honour the second promise,’’ said Shvipal.
“During the 2014 lok Sabha poll, Akhilesh was the Chief Minister and the party tally was reduced to mere 5 seats. In 2017 Assembly poll, Akhilesh was also the national SP chief and claimed to form the next government after forging alliance with the government. But he failed so it’s high time that Akhilesh stepped down,’’said Shivpal.
After the recent Assembly poll rout, Shivpal has been running a campaign and mobilising support within the party to mount pressure on Akhilesh to step down from the post of national president. He has maintained that Akhilesh should honour his promise and hand over reins of the party to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
During the elections in January, Shivpal had said he would float a new political party after Assembly poll. later his meeting with the chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP president Amit Shah fuelled speculations that he might join the BJP.
Samajwadi Party sources said Shivpal was `very restive’ over his non-entity status in the party and wants an early end to the deadlock in the family.