Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday broke down while addressing supporters at the Samajwadi Party and offered to resign from the top job if his father Mulayam Singh Yadav so desired.
He said that he was hurt when his father Mulayam removed him as the party chief but dismissed reports of him planning to form a new party.
"People are saying a new party will be formed. Who is forming a new party? I am not," Akhilesh said.
Reports suggested that the party was inching closer to a split when Akhilesh sacked his uncle Shivpal Yadav along with three other ministers close to him on Sunday.
Shivpal Yadav countered Akhilesh’s claims and said that the CM has told him about floating a new party.
“Akhilesh Yadav had said to me that he will form another party, he said it, he said it to me. We can not tolerate liars in SP, we just can't,” Shivpal said on Monday.
Shivpal, who is the party’s state president, had expelled SP MP Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years. Shivpal Yadav alleged that Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav was working at the behest of the BJP to save his son and daughter-in-law from the CBI. He said that the two were involved in the Yadav Singh-Noida Authority corruption case.
Ram Gopal Yadav had triggered off the events by dropping a letter bomb on Sunday morning in which he said that those who were opposing Akhilesh Yadav should not be allowed to succeed.
I am legitimate political heir, says Akhilesh Yadav
The three ministers who were sacked along with Shivpal Yadav were Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima. Ms Jaya Prada has also been removed from the post of vice-chairperson of UP Film Council.
The Chief Minister informed party MLAs and MLCs of these decisions at a meeting at his residence. Shivpal Singh and ministers and legislators close to him were not invited to the meeting.
“The Chief Minister said in the meeting that those close to Amar Singh will not remain in my cabinet,” said a legislator from Mainpuri Raju Yadav. The Chief Minister also announced that he was his father’s legitimate political heir and there was no question of a split in the party.
Shivpal Singh Yadav later told reporters that it was wrong on the part of the CM to level direct allegations at him. Earlier, immediately after the news of the sacking of ministers spread, senior SP leaders rushed to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s residence for parleys.
