Amid the ongoing power tussle in the ruling family of Uttar Pradesh, Samajawdi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday asserted that there was “no dispute” with son Akhilesh. However, Mulayam along with brother Shivpal Yadav met Election Commissioner official in New Delhi on Monday morning to stake claim over party election symbol ‘cycle’.
Earlier, Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, who is mentoring the Akhilesh Yadav camp, has sent sworn affidavits of some 5,761 Samajwadi Party leaders, including MLAs and MPs, to the Election Commission.
In an apparent reference to cousin Ram Gopal, Mulayam said “one person” was provoking Akhilesh and creating problems within the party.
“There are some who have influenced my son (Akhilesh). I had a talk with him last night and also in the morning over the issue. There is no dispute between my son and me,” Mulayam said.
“There is only a bit of dispute within the party, not much. Only one person is responsible for this. But that will be resolved soon,” he added.
To another question, he said, “We have differences over the election symbol which will be resolved by the EC.”
Meanwhile, Mulayam has also asked Rajya Sabha chairman to remove Ram Gopal Yadav as parliamentary party leader of Samajwadi Party.
He also said that while there was a resolution appointing Akhilesh as party president and another one appointing him as its mentor, there was no resolution removing him from the party chief’s position.
Ram Gopal Yadav has ruled out a rapprochement. “The majority is with Akhilesh Yadav. The symbol will go to whoever has numbers,” he said on the weekend after submitting to the Election Commission six boxes of documents with signatures of support from more 200 or the Samajwadi Party’s 229 lawmakers. These, he says, prove that Akhilesh Yadav now heads the state’s ruling party, having been named party president in place of his father at a meeting attended by about 5,000 leaders and workers on January 1.
