Typewriter that scripted a political crisis

Lucknow: Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday told his supporters he was assuming charge of the Samajwadi Party because father Mulayam Singh Yadav was not taking his own decisions. He seemed to suggest some hanky-panky in the way Mulayam was persuaded to sign the September 13 order replacing him with uncle Shivpal Yadav as state party president, which triggered the current crisis. "It was taking time to type a letter (at Mulayam's home).... He (Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh) asked for a typewriter from his office. If somebody brings a typewriter to the house of Netaji (Mulayam) to type a letter to remove a state president appointed by Netaji himself..." Akhilesh left his sentence unfinished. The crowd at the "national convention", which replaced Mulayam with Akhilesh as the party's national president with a show of hands this morning, seemed to get the drift. "Anybody can type a letter against me and mischievously make Netaji (Mulayam) sign it," Akhilesh said. It's known that the September 13 letter had been typed at Mulayam's Delhi residence in Amar's presence. Akhilesh added: "This country should know that I shall now respect Netaji more than before. Being his son, I take the responsibility to stand against those conspiring against my family." He later tweeted: "Sometimes to protect the ones you love you must make the right decision. What I did today was a tough decision but (one) that I had to take." Split hint Shivpal on Sunday invited a group of reporters for dinner at a hotel and appeared to hint at a possible split in the party. "I shall remain with Netaji till the end. The cycle (the party election symbol) will remain with us. Those who have doubts can go to any agency to claim it," he said. Appearing sentimental, he sang a couple of lines from the 1967 Bollywood movie Upkar: "Kasme waade pyaar wafaa sab baaten hain baaton ka kya (Pledges, love and loyalty are mere words)...." Later at night, Shivpal rushed to Mulayam's home after the patriarch complained of toothache and two doctors from the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute arrived to examine him. Akhilesh stayed put at his home, next door to his father's. Sunday’s events cap two days of drama. On Friday, Mulayam had suspended Akhilesh for six years for releasing a parallel list of candidates and Ram Gopal for calling Sunday's convention without authorisation. Both suspensions were revoked on Saturday after Akhilesh met his father and handed him a list of the MLAs supporting him, proving his overwhelming majority.