Within hours of the sacking of Shivpal Yadav along with three other Ministers from Akhilesh’s Cabinet, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav retaliated by expelling his cousin and party’s Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years. later in the evening, Ram Gopal shot off a letter saying he is with Akhilesh in the “Dharamyudh” against the political “dalals” (brokers), as some “Asuri”(evil) forces have gripped Netaji.
Briefing the media about the decision of Mulayam, State SP president Shivpal Yadav alleged, “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 other are in prison.
“Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is innocent and unable to differentiate between the friend and the foe. Ram Gopal is an expert of manipulations and is out to destroy the party and weaken the Chief Minister and the party chief for his narrow political ends,” alleged Shivpal, 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 also alleged that when thousands of the party workers were in jail during the previous BSP regime, Ram Gopal Yadav never bothered to visit them. “Ram Gopal Yadav even insulted the 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 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 his nephew Akhilesh in the power struggle in the family, said in the letter that “future of the party lay with Akhilesh”. While no one had been specifically targeted, the letter spoke of people who had a negative mindset, “minted crores of rupees and misused power”. “We want the SP to form the next Government under the leadership of Akhilesh, 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,” he added in a veiled attack on Shivpal.
In the letter to the party workers, Ram Gopal Yadav also said, “Such people to mislead the masses and create confusion issue big statements and do the drama of reconciliation.” “Do not be misled by such projections and statement, the Rath Yatra announced by Akhilesh is thorn in their flesh and we have to further sharpen this,” he added.
Meanwhile, the sacked SP general secretary and spokesperson 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 on 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. Modi 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.
later in the evening, he shot off another letter saying he is with Akhilesh in the ‘Dharamyudh’ against the political ‘dalals’ (brokers). In the open letter, Ram Gopal has called on the party workers and his supporters to throw their weight behind Akhilesh so that he could be made CM for the second time after 2017 Assembly elections.
Claiming that Mulayam was his elder brother and political guru for whom he has all respect but some ‘Asuri’(evil) forces have gripped Netaji. “Whether I am in the party or not, I will continue to support Akhilesh till he becomes the CM for the second time,” said Ram Gopal Yadav. His son Akshay Yadav is the Samajwadi Party MP from Firozabad.
“I am not concerned about my expulsion from the party; the baseless allegations have pained me as they are without any substance and do not have even an iota of truth in it. Meeting leaders of other parties is not a crime and I had met Narendra Modi along with Netaji to invite the PM for a marriage function in Sefai,” he said in his letter.
However, Ram Gopal, who is the cousin brother of Mulayam, said that “a BJP MP had organised a reception party after the marriage of Aditya, son of Shivpal Yadav while in return a SP MP had given a dinner for that BJP MP and in both the parties Shivpal and Mulayam had participated’’.
Interestingly, Ram Gopal did not mention about the charges made by Shivpal about his son Akshay and daughter-in-law’s involvement in the Noida scam.