Mulayam calls himself Samajwadi Party chief, says Ram Gopal Yadav sacked for six years

“I am Samajwadi party chief and Akhilesh Yadav is the Chief Minister UP, Shivpal Yadav is the state President,” Mulayam Singh Yadav asserted. (File)

Rejecting any feud in the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday said that he was the president of the party while Akhilesh Yadav is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. “I am the national president of Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav is (only) the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Shivpal Yadav is still the president of Samajwadi Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit,” Mulayam, who is locked in a bitter feud with Akhilesh-Ramgopal camp for control over the party, said.

“Ramgopal Yadav was expelled from the party for six years on 30 December, 2016. Therefore the party’s national convention called by him on 1 January, 2017 was illegal,” he asserted.

Ramgopal, who has been backing Akhilesh in the internecine fued in the party, had convened the meeting in his capacity as SP general secretary.

Mulayam is likely to visit Election Commission tommorrow to stake claim over the party’s name and election symbol ‘cycle’. Tomorrow is the deadline set by the EC for both the sides to submit documents before it decides which faction has the genuine claim over the two.

Yesterday, the Akhilesh faction submitted to the EC affidavits claimed to have been signed by 90 per cent of legislators and delegates, including over 200 of the 229 MLAs backing the Chief Minister.

(With inputs from PTI)