UP polls: Election Commission decision on cycle' symbol on January 16
Akhilesh Yadav had declared himself the SP's national president, and assigned margdarshak's role to his father.
New Delhi: Even as the Election Commission (EC) reserved its order on the Samajwadi Party’s symbol ‘bicycle’, patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav said he was in no mood to cede control of the party.
On January 1, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had declared himself the SP’s national president, and assigned margdarshak’s role to his father.
“I am anyway the margdarshak of the party,” the septuagenarian said on Friday, while maintaining he was still the SP’s chief. The EC which heard the two warring factions is expected to announce its order by January 16, a day before nominations for the Assembly elections start in UP.
During the six-hour hearing, both factions staked their claim to the symbol. Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal represented Akhilesh Yadav’s faction. Former Solicitor-General of India Mohan Parasaran led the team representing Mulayam Singh Yadav’s side.
“Both sides said that there was no split in the party,” Gauri Neo Rampal, a lawyer representing Mulayam Singh Yadav, said.
From the CM’s camp, SP Rajya Sabha MPs Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agrawal were present at the hearing, while Mulayam Singh Yadav along with his brother Shivpal Yadav pleaded their case. Conspicuous by his absence was Amar Singh.