LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav dropped a bombshell on Friday evening expelling his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav from the party just ahead of crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh.
He has also expelled his cousin and senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav for the second time in months, accused him of "spoiling the career of the chief minister." The Samajwadi Party chief said both Akhilesh and Ram Gopal have been sacked for weakening the party.
"I made Akhilesh chief minister... and now he does not even consult me," said the father as he announced the son's expulsion. Mr Singh would not immediately say who will be chief minister in place of Akhilesh Yadav. Elections in UP are expected to be announced any day now.
While UP's ruling party had seemed headed for a split for some time now, break point came after Ram Gopal Yadav, a staunch supporter of the Chief Minister, called an emergency meeting today of the party in defiance of the party chief. This after Mulayam Singh Yadav issued a show cause notice asking his son why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for releasing a parallel list of candidates for the Uttar Pradesh elections, which includes several party leaders who are close to him and who did not make it to the official list released by his father a day before.
Tomorrow, Mulayam Singh has called a meeting of all candidates named by him in what is intended to emphasise that they are the party's official nominees and he, the unchallenged boss.
Akhilesh Yadav's list of 235 includes 187 candidates who also feature in his father's list, and tomorrow's meeting will be watched keenly for how many of these party leaders attend, signalling that they are with Mulayam Singh.
The chief minister's defiant move yesterday was seen as a last-ditch effort to pressure his father into reconsidering the candidacy of his key aides after they failed to reach common ground at a meeting in Lucknow.
Akhilesh Yadav has in recent months engaged in a bitter power tussle with his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who is the party's UP chief and was present by Mulayam Singh's side when he expelled the chief minister. Mulayam Singh has consistently supported his younger brother.
The official Samajwadi Party list has on it several people backed by Shivpal and whose candidacy has been fiercely opposed by Akhilesh Yadav, including a gangster-turned-politician who faces 44 serious criminal charges.
Mulayam Singh Yadav has also repeatedly said no one will be projected as the party's presumptive chief minister, which is unacceptable to Akhilesh Yadav's supporters, who say the young chief minister is the party's face.
The Samajwadi Party's internal strife gives an added advantage to the BJP and Mayawati's BSP in the mega battle for Uttar Pradesh, being pegged as the semi-final before national elections in 2019. Elections to UP's 403 assembly seats are expected to be announced by the Election Commission any day now.
