Akhilesh Yadav had sacked a minister for orchestrating Samajwadi Party's merger with Qaumi Ekta Dal.
Highlights
- Shivpal Yadav skips swearing-in ceremony of reshuffled UP cabinet
- Shivpal had backed Samajwadi Party's merger with Qaumi Ekta Dal
- Merger was called off yesterday after Akhilesh Yadav voiced disapproval
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav stayed away from a function at Lucknow's Raj Bhawan today where new ministers were inducted into the cabinet.
Of the five ministers inducted, one had been sacked by Akhilesh Yadav just last week. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's friend Balram Yadav was removed by the Chief Minister over his role in negotiating the Samajwadi Party's merger with gangster Mukhtar Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal. The merger was said to have the blessings of both Akhilesh Yadav's's father Mulayam Singh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal, a cabinet minister.
Shivpal Yadav's staff said he had a "pre-decided" engagement.
But an angry Akhilesh Yadav's sacking of his father's trusted man and a refusal to compromise over the issue forced the party to call off the merger. And so Shivpal Yadav, who had orchestrated the move as he felt Mr Ansari would get the party's crucial Muslim votes in Eastern Uttar Pradesh has chosen to travel to his home district Etawah, on a "pre-decided" programme, his staff said.
"Why does the media create all this controversy," asked Amar Singh, recently rehabilitated into the Samajwadi Party with a Rajya Sabha membership, adding "we are all here and we are united. Shivpal ji has pre-decided programmes and he could not make it. These are normal things blown out of proportion by the media."
Mulayam Singh Yadav however was more cryptic. "Meet me later and I will talk," he said, before his security shoved media persons away.
Balram Yadav, minister again after a week, quipped, "I was always a minister. It was a brief break. There is no disunity."