Samajwadi Feud: Yadav vs Yadav, Act I, Scene III?

The ongoing dispute in the ruling Samajwadi Party seems to have hit a road block as yet another meeting between father Mulayam Singh Yadav and his rebel son Akhilesh Yadav failed to break the impasse on Tuesday, even as date of the first phase of voting in the state’s assembly polls gets nearer. They were meeting in Lucknow apparently for the first time after both factions went to the Election Commission to stake claim on the party and election symbol.

Four sticking points seem to have emerged and neither side is said to be willing to concede all of them. But both sides are said to be determined that it’s all or none.

Four points of Mulayam Singh Yadav

• MSY should be reinstated and accepted as the national president of the party
• Akhilesh Yadav should withdraw his petition before the Election Commission claiming the party symbol
• Ram Gopal Yadav should stand expelled from the party for six years
• Shivpal Singh Yadav should remain state president

Four points Akhilesh Yadav camp is adamant about

• Akhilesh Yadav should remain the national president of the party
• That he should be given a free hand in ticket distribution
• That Naresh Uttam nominated by him should remain the state unit president
• And Amar Singh should be expelled from the party

The meeting took place at the residence of Mulayam Singh Yadav at 5 Vikramaditya Marg, where Akhilesh went to meet his father from the adjoining 4 Vikramaditya Marg bungalow at around 10.40 am. The meeting went on for 90 minutes.

This was the third meeting between the father and the son after Akhilesh Yadav staged a coup and took over the reins of the party at an emergency delegate meeting in Lucknow on January 1. The last meeting was held on January 6 but it did not yield any result.

Last night, Mulayam had given the impression of a thaw and announced that Akhilesh Yadav would be the CM after the election, taking a U-turn over his previous stand that nobody would be projected as the next chief minister.

“I want to make it clear that Akhilesh Yadav would be the next Chief Minister of the state,” he had told a private news channel immediately after his hour-long meeting with Shivpal Singh Yadav and tainted minister Gayatri Prajapati after his return from New Delhi last night.

But it seemed to be back to square one late on Tuesday afternoon with people placing bets on what might unfold later in the evening.