No rift between me, Akhilesh; one person behind Samajwadi Party’s feud: Mulayam Singh Yadav

Mulayam Singh Yadav agreed that there were some problems in the party and that one person was behind the existing feud between him and his son, Akhilesh Yadav.

THE FACTIONAL war in the Samajwadi Party escalated on Monday with the Akhilesh Yadav camp seeking an early decision on the disputed party symbol, while Mulayam Singh Yadav asserted that he is still the party chief and has no differences with his son. In a related development, Mulayam urged Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to derecognise his cousin, Ram Gopal Yadav, as the SP’s leader in the House, following his expulsion from the party on December 30. He also urged Ansari to shift Ram Gopal’s seat to the back benches following his expulsion.

Meanwhile, Ram Gopal approached the Election Commission and urged it to take an early decision on the disputed ‘cycle’ symbol because the nomination process for the Uttar Pradesh elections will commence from January 17. Ram Gopal was accompanied by party MPs Naresh Agarwal and Neeraj Shekhar.