LUCKNOW: With the SP’s future at stake, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is likely to meet the Election Commission again along with Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh on Monday afternoon laying claim over the party symbol.
If the two factions fail to resolve their differences, the EC might freeze the party symbol and allot different symbols to each faction.
Both the factions have been asked by the Election Commission to furnish their respective details to validate their claim on party symbol by Monday. Ram Gopal has already submitted papers with the EC claiming support of 205 MLA, 56 MLC and 15 MPs.
Earlier in the day, in State capital Lucknow, Mulayam Singh Yadav, in a bid to reassert his authority as SP chief, reached the SP headquarters and sat in his office for some time, he also assured the party workers present there that nothing was wrong with the party and that things would become normal soon. He, accompanied by Shivpal, then left for Delhi in the afternoon. Before he left for Delhi, he was asked at the airport about the ongoing tussle within the family and party, he said, “hamari party me koi vivad nahi hai” (There is no dispute in our party).
Boost for BJP
After winning over political aces like UP Congress chief and party’s sitting MLA Rita Bahuguna Joshi, former Leader of Opposition and senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, former Rajya Sabha members Brijesh Pathak and Jugul Kishore, the BJP added another feather to its cap in the state by bringing in Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader in UP Assembly Dalbir Singh Chaudhary on Sunday.
Dalbir Singh, a senior RLD leader who has worked with former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, has been quite vocal against BJP in the past and seen coming out in Akhilesh’s support in the Assembly.
However, his pro-Akhilesh stand could be attributed to the anticipation of a possible ‘mahagathhbandhan’ (grand alliance) which RLD and JD(U) were quite eager for. The efforts of the two parties came a cropper when SP chief Mulayam put an end to all those possibilities by asking RLD to merge with his party.
Notably, the BJP giving sleepless nights to its political rivals in the state by accepting stalwarts of rival parties, even party insiders and loyalists are also apparently worried about their fate and prospects. However, having a feel of party workers’ mood, BJP state unit chief Keshav Kumar Maurya, too, is seen assuring party workers of no injustice vis-a-vis ticket distribution for the ensuing state elections.