SP war moves to EC as both camps battle over ‘cycle’

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav moved the Election Commission here on Monday to hold on to the party’s election symbol, the cycle, a day after his son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav unseated him and became the new national president of the party.

SP Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, who has backed Akhilesh Yadav in his struggle for control of the party, is likely to meet the EC on Tuesday to claim the party’s symbol before the crucial Assembly polls, whose schedule will be announced anytime soon.  

After calling Sunday’s development illegal, Mulayam Singh Yadav rushed to Delhi and spent the whole day with brother Shivpal Yadav and close aide Amar Singh at his residence here.

He went to the Election Commission at around 4.30 pm, and was escorted by Shivpal Yadav, Amar Singh and Jaya Prada.

According to sources in the Election Commission, in the event of a split in the Samajwadi Party, the bicycle symbol will go to the faction that can furnish support of the majority of party office-bearers.

However, if the commission doesn’t have enough time for verification, it can just freeze the symbol and ask both sides to chose new names and symbols.

Both camps of the Samajwadi parivar have been locked in a bitter feud for greater control of the party, resulting in several tit-for-tat sackings since August.

Possibly apprehensive of a low turnout, Mulayam Singh Yadav also “postponed” a party convention he had called on January 5 after Akhilesh Yadav made him a mentor on Sunday.

“No one can accuse me of any wrongdoing. I have never indulged in corruption or betrayed anyone. Cycle symbol is ours,” the party founder said earlier in the day.

Shivpal Yadav who was removed as the party’s UP chief by the CM, said in a series of tweets that Mulayam Singh was still the SP national president.

The family conflict came to a head on Friday when Mulayam Singh expelled his son for releasing a parallel list of candidates for the Assembly elections and Ram Gopal for “weakening the party”. He took them back the next day, but the expulsions had triggered a wave of support for the CM.

Amar Singh, also sacked from the party by the CM, rushed from London in view of the crisis and said: “I was and will remain with Mulayam Singh Yadav. I was a hero but I am now ready to become a khalnayak (villain) for him”.

Shivpal Yadav also said he would continue to be with the party founder. “I will be with Mulayam till my last breath,” he said upon his arrival in Delhi.

Ram Gopal Yadav, the architect of the political coup in the Samajwadi Party, meanwhile told reporters, “Mulayam Singh is not a Supreme Court judge. If he has any problem, he should go to the Election Commission. I have not sought any appointment with the EC”.