NEW DELHI: The fracture in the Samajwadi Party has further widened ahead of the crucial Assembly elections.
Hours after party president Mulayam Singh sacked a lawmaker loyalist of Akhilesh Yadav, the Chief Minister called a meeting with 175 legislators known to be loyal to him to chalk out the next course of action. Another 75 legislators, loyal to the party chief and Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Yadav, did not get the invite.
Speculation is rife that Akhilesh could take a call on postponing his yatra by a few days at the meeting.
"While it is too soon to predict if the party is headed for a split, it is obvious that the cracks in the Yadav family are widening," say sources. The drama began to unfurl early on Saturday with the expulsion of MLC Udayveer Singh, loyal to the Chief Minister's camp.
Udayveer had written a letter to party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, demanding that Akhilesh be made the party's national president. In a four-page letter to the party supremo, Udayveer wrote, “SP state president Shivpal Yadav and other members of his family have misled you (Mulayam) and hatched a conspiracy against Akhilesh, who should be made the party’s national president and given all the power.”
“Udayveer Singh has been expelled from the party for six years for his undignified and indisciplined behaviour,” State party spokesman Ambika Chaudhary said, adding that the party would not tolerate such behaviour.