The Samajwadi Party is headed towards its biggest political crisis as the party’s strongman Shivpal Singh Yadav quit both the Akhilesh Yadav Government as well as the post of State unit president on Thursday and offered to work as a simple karyakarta.
While Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has refused to accept the resignation, sources said Shivpal has refused to work under Akhilesh anymore.
Sources said Shivpal Singh Yadav’s son Aditya Yadav will also resign from the post of chairman, Pradeshik Cooperative Federation.
It is speculated that SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav could also reject Shivpal’s resignation from the party chief’s post.
Sources said that Shivpal took the decision to “quit” after he had a 15-minute short meeting with the Chief Minister at his residence. What conspired between chacha and bhatija is not known, but the way Shivpal faxed his resignation letter to the CM shows that the meeting failed to break the ice between the two.
Earlier, Shivpal had an hour-long meeting with Mulayam at his residence, 5 Vikramaditya Marg, and then drove to 5 Kalidas Marg — the official residence of the Chief Minister.
Mulayam, who is caught between his son and brother, stepped in to defuse the crisis and reached lucknow a day earlier than his scheduled arrival on Friday. Sources in the party said that Mulayam had summoned both Shivpal and Akhilesh to New Delhi on Wednesday. Shivpal, who was in Etawah did reach Delhi, but Akhilesh chose to remain in lucknow.
It is expected that Akhilesh and Mulayam might have discussed the ‘family feud’ over the ‘family dinner’ on Thursday night as the two share the same residence in lucknow.
Sources said it was Mulayam who persuaded Shivpal to meet Akhilesh to break the ice between chacha and bhatija. “The meeting between them was short — just for 15 minutes to be precise,” a source said.
In another development, two senior Ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav Government, Balram Yadav and Awdhesh Prasad, have refused to take charge of new portfolios. They were given departments which were previously headed by Shivpal Singh Yadav.
The crisis was precipitated after Akhilesh sacked Ministers Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh on Tuesday and then removed Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal the following day. However the same day, Mulayam removed Akhilesh from the post of the State SP president which he had been holding since June 2009 and replaced him with brother Shivpal.
Irked by this, Akhilesh then divested his uncle of all important departments.
Interestingly, another family member Prof Ram Gopal Yadav who met the Chief Minister for around two hours left for Saifai without meeting either Shivpal Singh or Mulayam Singh Yadav. He, however, said that Netaji will resolve the crisis as no one in party can disobey him.
Claiming all was well within the party, Ram Gopal Yadav rallied behind Akhilesh saying the party brass erred in removing him from State chief's post without taking him into confidence.
He claimed if Akhilesh was asked to step down he would have done that. "No one disobeys Netaji. He should have been asked to focus on the CM's job and hand over the party post to Shivpal. Akhilesh would have agreed," said Yadav.
The Professor sounded confident that the issue would be resolved once Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh speak to each other.
Incidentally, the letter sacking Akhilesh from the party president was signed by Ram Gopal Yadav himself. "I was asked by Netaji to replace Akhilesh with Shivpal as State chief. He was angry. I did not have the courage to ask him questions. There was no time to seek any clarification."
Ram Gopal revealed that when he spoke to Akhilesh, he informed that Netaji had called and rebuked him. "Akhilesh said that if I have been asked to issue the sack letter I should issue that," Prof Yadav said.
When asked who are the people who brainwashed Netaji, Prof Yadav said: "'There are some people who take advantage of Netaji's humility. They are not concerned about the party's welfare. They always tried to damage the party."
On his meeting with Akhilesh Yadav, Prof Yadav said: "I can only say that he is not angry. He too feels that what has happened is not good for the party and is confident that the issue will be sorted out at the earliest."
Before meeting Akhilesh, Shivpal said the CM did not consult anyone in the party before changing his portfolios. "This was his personal decision," Yadav told reporters in lucknow on Thursday.
"It is Chief Minister's prerogative to distribute portfolios and Akhilesh used it all right. I am happy with what I have. I have been given a bigger responsibility and I will focus on that," Shivpal said adding, "I have finished work in the previous departments. My focus would now be on elections."
Shivpal chose to remain non-committal when asked whether Akhilesh would be projected as Chief Minister by the party for the 2017 elections. "I cannot say anything. It will be Netaji's decision. If he says Akhilesh would be the CM face of the party, I will abide by his order," Shivpal said.
The statement was a reflection of the prevailing bitterness between chacha and bhatija despite several rounds of talks between members of the Yadav family. "No one becomes big because of what post he holds. I have always thought that way," he said taking a jibe at Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal, however, ducked several questions on whether he wanted Mulayam Singh Yadav to be the Chief Minister. Skirting pointed queries, he simply said, "My priority right now is to ensure success for the party in the Assembly polls and I am ready to make any sacrifice for the SP."
Earlier, Shivpal was given a rousing welcome by thousands of party workers at the Amausi airport on his arrival from Delhi. Slogans like "Shivpal Singh tum sangharsh karo hum tumahre saath hai," rented the air. But the workers were not able to explain what kind of sangharsh they wanted Shivpal to wage.