On Tuesday, Mulayam Singh had removed Akhilesh as the party's UP chief and installed Shivpal instead
Uttar Pradesh Minister Shivpal Yadav reached Delhi by special flight on Wednesday afternoon and is meeting his brother and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. He was divested yesterday of important portfolios by his nephew and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal Yadav, sources said, has offered to resign. Akhilesh Yadav defiantly said in UP capital Lucknow today that he takes his own decisions, setting up a confrontation with father Mulayam Singh that threatens to damage the party's campaign for the assembly elections early next year.
So tense is the situation in the Yadav family that Mulayam Singh reportedly refused to travel to Lucknow to broker peace. He has instead summoned both Shivpal and Akhilesh to Delhi to show who is boss.
Yesterday, Mulayam Singh had removed Akhilesh as the party's UP chief and installed Shivpal instead after the chief minister first removed two ministers close to his father over alleged corruption and then the state's top bureaucrat Deepak Singhal, who is close to Shivpal Yadav and had pleaded the case of the sacked ministers.
Shivpal Yadav, sources said, is using the opportunity to weaken Akhilesh's hold over the party. Samajwadi Party leaders close to Shivpal Yadav said he has already proposed that to end the strife and get the party campaign back on track Mulayam Singh Yadav should remove his son and take over as chief minister.
All through his son's first tenure as chief minister, Mulayam Singh has openly criticised his functioning, leading to speculation that he regrets his decision to make Akhilesh chief minister instead of himself after his party swept the 2012 UP elections.
"The leadership in SP is divided between the two factions. Those sidelined by Akhilesh Yadav are now flocking around Shivpal and Mulayam Singh trying to regain lost ground," said a senior Samajwadi Party leader.
Among those in the Shivpal camp, said sources is Amar Singh, who made a quiet return to the party some time back after being banished for many years. Akhilesh and Mulayam's cousin Ram Gopal Yadav were seen to be behind his ouster.
Today, Akhilesh said "outsiders" were trying to create a crisis. Many saw in that a reference to Amar Singh, who sources said has met Mulayam Singh twice in the last 24 hours.