8 years ago
Lucknow:
As Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party appears to be headed for a split after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav engaged in an open face-off, sacking each other's loyalists Shivpal Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav called for a meeting today at the headquarters of the Samajwadi Party in Lucknow.
Update: Akhilesh Yadav has left the Samajwadi Party meet in Lucknow. He is now heading to his official residence.
Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav goes on stage and accuses the chief minister of being a "liar."
Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh shout at each other at party meet: 10 updates @yadavakhilesh https://t.co/eyGHquz3eO pic.twitter.com/T8REPUJd1h
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 24, 2016
Samajwadi Party crisis worsens as party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh Yadav have a heated exchange on stage.
"Akhilesh Yadav will not be removed" (from party), says Mulayam Singh Yadav during Samajwadi Party meet in Lucknow.
I could have become Prime Minister if I wanted to, but didn't compromise on principles: Mulayam Singh Yadav on clashes within Samajwadi Party
Earlier this morning, Samajwadi Party's Shivpal Yadav accused his nephew Akhilesh Yadav of trying to form a new party. He even swore on Gangajal that he is speaking the truth. Here's what he said:
Watch | @yadavakhilesh told me he'll form new party, says uncle Shivpal Yadavhttps://t.co/Dt8oYkb9V4
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 24, 2016
From earlier this morning at the Samajwadi Party meet in Lucknow:
Emotional Akhilesh Yadav tells Mulayam Singh: You brought me here, where will I go? https://t.co/hAZiqJolYa pic.twitter.com/zYpK7SaGA3
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 24, 2016
In a message to Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav says, "'Abusing people does not help."
PM @narendramodi became PM with dedication and struggle. He comes from a poor family, says he can't leave his mother: Mulayam Singh Yadav
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 24, 2016
I can't leave Amar Singh or Shivpal Yadav. All of Amar Singh's sins are forgiven: Mulayam Singh Yadav
Amar Singh is my brother, says Mulayam Singh Yadav during Samajwadi Party meet.
Will never forget work Shivpal has done for me and @samajwadiparty, he is leader of the masses: Mulayam Singh Yadav https://t.co/Gg2F4iQumR pic.twitter.com/Rs7NqRjX2L
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 24, 2016
If you can't face criticism, you can't be a leader, says Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav
I am not a weak person, even to this day. Do not think youth is not with me: Mulayam Singh Yadav
Some ministers are just busy being sycophants. And people who can't think big can't be a minister: Mulayam Singh Yadav says during Samajwadi Party meet in Lucknow.
"Instead of fighting our weaknesses, we are fighting among ourselves," says Mulayam Singh Yadav during his address to party workers and supporters in Lucknow.
(File Photo of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav)
(File Photo of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav)
Flashback: Earlier this morning, while addressing party workers at the Samajwadi Party meet, Akhilesh Yadav offered to step down as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh if his father and Samajwadi Party chief desired so.
Akhilesh Yadav said, "If Netaji asked for my resignation, I would give it. Let Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) install a chief minister who he feels is honest."
Akhilesh Yadav said, "If Netaji asked for my resignation, I would give it. Let Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) install a chief minister who he feels is honest."
"We have worked really hard to form this party, sad to see this rift," says Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
I feel really sad because of this rift in our family: Mulayam Singh Yadav @samajwadiparty https://t.co/Gg2F4iQumR pic.twitter.com/BNeQZ4U5ni
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 24, 2016
Live now: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav addresses party workers and supporters at its headquarters in Lucknow.
During his address to party workers, Shivpal Yadav alleges that he "recently went to meet the chief minister (Akhilesh Yadav). He said that he will make a party and ally with some other party. I was told that he (Akhilesh) will form a new party. I swear on Gangajal."
Samajwadi Party workers boo Akhilesh Yadav's uncle and sacked minister Shivpal Yadav.
(File Photo of Shivpal Yadav)
(File Photo of Shivpal Yadav)
"If Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) would have asked for my resignation, I would have given it," says an emotional Akhilesh Yadav.
"People are saying that a new party will be formed. Who is forming the new party, definitely not me," says Akhilesh Yadav during the Samajwadi Party meet in Lucknow.
An emotional Akhilesh Yadav clarifies that he will not break away from the Samajwadi Party, says that he "won't float a new party"
(File Photo of Akhilesh Yadav)
(File Photo of Akhilesh Yadav)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav breaks down during Samajwadi Party meet. Makes an emotional appeal to party workers and supporters.
UPDATE: Crucial Samajwadi Party meeting begins at its headquarters in Lucknow.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, and uncle Shivpal Yadav reach party headquarters in Lucknow. The meeting will begin shortly.
After exchange of blows between the two groups, police use force to disperse them.
Ahead of today's Samajwadi Party meet in Lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Yadav's supporters clashed outside the headquarters.
As the battle between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav intensifies, Here's what has happened so far in Samajwadi Party's big boss fight:
- Hours after he was dropped from the state cabinet by nephew Akhilesh Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav said his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav had been expelled from the party for "conspiring with the BJP".
- Shivpal Yadav said Ram Gopal Yadav was doing this "because his son Akshay Yadav and daughter-in-law are caught in a scam. To save them, they are conspiring with the BJP." His own sacking from the state cabinet, he said, was a fallout of that conspiracy.
- Reacting to the allegations, Ram Gopal Yadav, in a letter to Mulayam Singh Yadav, denied there was any CBI investigation against his son or any other family member. "In public life, one meets people from other parties too... So if I met some BJP leaders, why draw a political meaning?" he asked.
- The sacking was announced at a meeting between Akhilesh Yadav and his ministers on Sunday morning. Besides Shivpal Yadav, ministers Narad Rai, Omprakash and Sayeda Shadab Fatima had been dropped.
- It was seen as a retort to his father, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been promoting Shivpal over his son in the run-up to next year's assembly elections in the state.
- The sacking of the senior leader from the state cabinet twice in two months, has raised speculations of a split in the party. But Akhilesh Yadav said he won't break away. "Mulayam Yadav is my father. I'll serve him all my life. I don't want to split the party," he said.
- Akhilesh Yadav's supporters have blamed the rift within the party on Amar Singh. Without naming Amar Singh, senior party leader Azam Khan said, "Knew that this day will come, because of one person we have incurred heavy losses."
- "The Samajwadi Party is treating Uttar Pradesh as a fiefdom of the family. The Yadav family slugfest is out in open," said Anupriya Patel, the leader of Apna Dal, an ally of the BJP.
- State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya demanded that Akhilesh Yadav resign or prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly.
- On Saturday, Mulayam Singh Yadav met son Akhilesh and brother Shivpal in an attempt to broker peace. A supporter of the Chief Minister, legislator Udayveer Singh -- who accused Mulayam Singh's second wife of being part of the conspiracy against Akhilesh Yadav -- was expelled from the party after the meeting.
- The Yadav versus Yadav battle has been raging for almost two months. In September, Akhilesh Yadav had dropped uncle Shivpal from the cabinet after he crafted an alliance with gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari. But he was forced to take Shivpal back and let the alliance stand after Mulayam Singh intervened.
As Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party appears to be headed for a split after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav engaged in an open face-off, sacking each other's loyalists Shivpal Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav called for a meeting today at the headquarters of the Samajwadi Party in Lucknow.
