Faced with an imminent split which could have drastically reduced his clout, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday revoked the expulsion of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Ramgopal, just a day after they were sacked for ‘indiscipline’.
With the writing on the wall loud and clear after Akhilesh mustered an overwhelming majority of party MLAs in his support, Yadav asked his younger sibling and state SP chief Shivpal to announced revocation of the expulsion of the two.
‘On the SP supremo’s directive, expulsion of Akhilesh and Ramgopal from SP is being revoked with immediate effect,’ Shivpal Yadav, who has a running feud with the chief minister, tweeted after hectic confabulations.
“I am coming after having met party chief Mulayam Singh along with CM Akhilesh Yadav. Netaji has given the order that the suspension orders of Akhilesh and Ram Gopal are terminated with immediate effect,” Shivpal said.
"All of us together will fight communal forces and we will once again form an SP government in UP with full majority. These are my orders. We will hold discussions within ourselves and decide, and prepare for the upcoming elections,” he said.
"All matters have been resolved and we will fight the upcoming polls together. We will all sit together with Netaji and I am sure all problems will be resolved,” he said.
With the change of scenario, the emergency national convention of the SP, called by SP General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav in Lucknow on Sunday is likely to become a show of solidarity.
Party insiders said a new list of candidates, bearing the stamp of Akhilesh and his father, might be prepared to present a show of unity in the party which has become synonymous with factional feuds every now and then.
On a day of fast-paced developments, Akhilesh earlier in the day convened a meeting of SP legislators where over 200 of the 229 party MLAs turned up expressing their loyalty with the chief minister, a day after he was expelled from the party for indulging in ‘indiscipline’, pushing the ruling party to the brink of a vertical split.
Some SP MLCs and senior party functionaries loyal to Akhilesh also attended the meeting at the chief minister’s official residence at 5-Kalidas Marg.
Senior SP leader and UP cabinet minister Azam Khan then arrived at the CM’s residence and, after a brief stay, they drove to Mulayam’s bungalow nearby.
High drama was witnessed outside the chief minister’s residence where young supporters of Akhilesh assembled in large numbers to vent their fury over his expulsion and that of his uncle Ramgopal Yadav.
Akhilesh supporters tried to break the cordon outside the CM’s residence and clashed with police.
Some of his loyalists also exchanged blows with supporters of Shivpal Yadav outside the party headquarters in the high-security VIP enclave which looked like a battle zone with heavy police deployment.
As the embattled Samajwadi Party faced its worst ever crisis, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad sought to bring the warring groups together by speaking to Mulayam to broker peace.
Lalu telephoned Mulayam, who happens to be his relative too, to ensure that the feuding leaders buried the hatchet.
Mulayam had on Friday expelled his son Akhilesh and Ramgopal from SP for six years after they put up candidates against the official nominees and summoned a party meet on Sunday, pushing the ruling party to the precipice of a split just ahead of the assembly elections likely to be announced soon.
Mulayam had said he took action against Akhilesh and Ramgopal to save the party which he had built through hard work.
“We have to save the party. The party comes first. That is why we are expelling both Akhilesh and Ramgopal,” he said.
He explained that the decision was taken after Ramgopal, in his capacity as general secretary, called an emergency meeting of the party on January 1 and Akhilesh ‘supported’ it.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who many including Akhilesh, blame for creating bad blood within Saifai’s ruling Yadav clan, termed the crisis in the party as ‘unfortunate’ and asked its members to support Mulayam in the family feud.
“I appeal to the party members to stand with Netaji (Mulayam). Whatever is happening is very unfortunate,” Singh, who recently made a comeback to the party after a long exile, said.
However, as the squabbling first family of the Samajwadi Party appeared to have made peace, Singh quickly changed the tune saying, “Mulayam Singhji has done the right thing. He has given a message through his decision that he will not let either the Samajwadi party or his family breaks till he is alive. Those people who wanted the party and the family to break, their conspiracy has failed.”
Now we will get together and with each other’s cooperation will ensure that the SP once again forms government with full majority in UP elections to fulfil Mulayam Singhji’s dreams and expectations, he said.
“I want to congratulate Akhilesh, Ram Gopal Yadav and all party workers. It is my humble request to all those people, who think I am reason for the feud in party, I am not here to break the party and instead I want to unite it,” he said.
Singh said if somebody was still hurt due to him, he was ‘ready to sacrifice’ himself for unity in the party.
Azam Khan, a bitter critic of Amar Singh and SP’s Muslim face, expressed his happiness over the patch up between the feuding SP top brass.
“We have been successful in resolving our issues. I don’t know how long this peace will last but action against the CM has been withdrawn. I am happy that the CM met SP president and there was no bitterness in the talks between the two. It was just like a miffed father talking to his son,” he said.
“For me, the suspension of Akhilesh and Ramgopal was a big news and could have created a problem we might not have an answer to. Even I was unhappy with this action (the suspensions) and felt it should be taken back. This is what has happened,” he said.
Khan said Muslims were facing "threat" under the BJP-led government at the Centre and that it would be detrimental to them if SP failed to retain power in UP.