The ongoing dispute in the ruling Samajwadi Party has refused to die down as the eighth meeting between Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday failed to break impasse.
The Mulayam faction has started looking for plan B in case Election Commission freezes the ‘cycle’ symbol of the party.
The meeting took place a day after Mulayam had declared that Akhilesh would be the chief ministerial face of the party. He had even stressed that there was no division in the party and he would start election campaign shortly. This statement had kindled a hope that father and son would be able to resolve this issue and come out in open to declare all is well in the party. Nothing of the sort happened. After 90 minutes long meeting at Mulayam’s residence at 5 Vikramaditya Marg, both leaders parted ways.
Around 12.30 pm, confident looking Chief Minister drove out of his residence waiving to the crowd and the media personnel assembled there as the party workers shouted “Akhilesh Yadav Zindabad’ and “Bhaiya tum sagharsh karo hum tomahre saath hain”.
This was the second meeting between the father and the son after Akhilesh took over the reins of the party at an emergency delegates’ meeting on January 1. The last meeting was held on January 3 for around three-and-a-half hours but it did not yield any result and Akhilesh has conveyed to his supporters to go to their respective Assembly constituencies and campaign, while adding that he will release programme of his campaign very soon.
Sources in the party said during the meeting Mulayam asked Akhilesh to withdraw letter from the EC claiming his right over party’s election symbol. Mulayam said he will remain national president of the party while Akhilesh will be the CM face.
Akhilesh, however, refused to relinquish post of party’s national president and demanded that Naresh Uttam should be the State president of the party for at least three months till elections are over.
He also demanded Mulayam withdraw his petition before Election Commission.
The bone of contention, source said, remained over future of Amar Singh and Ram Gopal in the party. Akhilesh sought Amar Singh’s expulsion while Mulayam refused to take back Ram Gopal in the party.
Source said that both leaders agreed that this family feud that damaged party’s reputation and if both contest elections separately it was damage their poll prospects. “The meeting ended with Mulayam telling Akhilesh that he is very stubborn … think over it again and come back to me,” he said.
Political pundits see Mulayam’s statement as political posturing to discredit Akhilesh. He wanted to send message across that Akhilesh is after CM’s post and even after an announcement he is not ready to reconcile.
As deadlock persists within the ruling Samajwadi Party, senior SP leaders close to Mulayam have spoken to leaders of smaller parties and thus they have also approached the old lok Dal, founded by former Prime Minister and farmer leader Choudhury Charan Singh.
“Couple of leaders close to Mulayam have approached me and they are interested in contesting the polls on our symbol,” confirmed Sunil Singh, president of the lok Dal.
lok Dal is led by Sunil Singh, son of a senior politician Rajendra Singh of Aligarh, who was a close associate of Charan Singh has the election symbol of farmer ploughing field (Kheth jotta Kissan).
The lok Dal has already short listed names of 100 candidates. In 2012 elections, the party had contested 76 seats and its candidate though did not win a seat but received 5,000 to 15,000 votes in most of the segments.
Refusing to take the names of the leaders, who had approach him, the lok Dal president said a senior leader very close to Mulayam had a talk with him.
“I am solely interested for giving my symbol to Mulayam and let him contest the polls. Mulayam is an old disciple of Charan Singh and was even elected to the legislative council for the first time on this symbol,” he claimed.
According to source, Mulayam has approached the lok Dal in order to rake up his claim to the legacy of Chaudhury Charan Singh and being projected as farmers’ leader of the country to counter his son Akhilesh.
Sunil Singh had been awarded the lok Dal and its symbol by the Election Commission after a long legal battle with Charan Singh’s son Ajit Singh, who had to satisfy himself with a new name of Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) with an election symbol of handpump.