SP truce talks crash, ‘cycle’ fight rages on

New Delhi/Lucknow: The battleground in the Samajwadi Party family feud kept shifting between Delhi and Lucknow on Tuesday, with the Akhilesh Yadav faction, represented by the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav, staking claim to the cycle symbol at the Election Commission, even as another attempt for truce between party patriach Mulayam Singh Yadav and his rebel son in the Uttar Pradesh capital came to naught.

The reason for the reconciliatory meeting between father and son failing, sources said, were the tough demands put forward by Akhilesh Yadav, which included banishing his uncle Shivpal Yadav to Delhi, purportedly to play a “national role,” and the chief minister having a say in the final list of candidates for the coming Assembly polls in the state. This would mean that candidates with criminal records would be dropped.

The chief minister reportedly agreed to step down from the national president’s post if his conditions were accepted. Mulayam Singh Yadav apparently did not concede any ground on these issues.

The day began with senior leader Ram Gopal Yadav reaching Delhi and staking claim to the crucial cycle symbol at the EC. He is understood to have told the Election Commissioner that since Akhilesh Yadav has the support of 90 per cent of the MLAs and MPs and is the party president, the faction led by him should be considered the real Samajwadi Party.

Ram Gopal Yadav later remained closeted with his core team of SP leaders — Naresh Agrawal and Kiranmoy Nanda — at his Lodhi Road residence. His confidante Mr Agrawal was seen going to meet the EC again later in the day.

Mr Mulayan Singh Yadav, who had met the EC on Monday, flew to Lucknow on a chartered flight after senior leader Azam Khan made an effort to broker peace. The SP patriarch left for the state capital after a telephonic conversation with his son.

Shivpal Yadav joined the meeting after about an hour and a half. In Lucknow, the three-hour-long meeting between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav failed to achieve a breakthrough with both sides remaining firm on their demands.

Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said in Delhi that there would be no reconciliation and the matter would finally be decided by the EC.

However, Azam Khan, who has remained neutral, said the possibility of a patch-up between the two factions remains, asserting that anything is possible. Mr Khan had prevailed upon Mulayam Singh Yadav to revoke the expulsion of Akhilesh and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav before they “removed” him from the party president’s post. He said he would do what he can to bring about a rapprochement.

Meanwhile, two controversies emerged within the party, adding a new angle to the ongoing strife.

The Mulayam faction has claimed that the expulsion of CM Akhilesh Yadav and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav was not taken back on paper and, hence, they remained expelled when they convened the “emergency national convention”.

“The revocation of their expulsion was conditional and it was decided that if they cancelled the national convention, the expulsion would be revoked. However, soon after talks, Akhilesh and Ram Gopal announced that they were going ahead with the convention and, hence, the letter revoking their expulsion was never actually issued”, said a former minister close to Mulayam.

He added that the expelled leaders did not have the authority to convene any meeting or convention and hence the January 1 event, in which Akhilesh Yadav was “elected” national president, was unconstitutional and illegal. The Akhilesh faction, on the other hand, has claimed that the signatures of Mulayam Singh Yadav on two letters issued on January 1 did not match.

The first letter, issued on the morning of January 1, declared that the SP convention was unconstitutional and party leaders were asked not to attend the same. The second letter was addressed to party vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda, sacking him from the party. Mr Nanda claims that both the signatures are different.