Mulayam Singh vs Akhilesh Yadav: Uttar Pradesh CM sacks Shivpal Yadav from cabinet, SP supremo expels Ram Gopal Yadav from Samajwadi Party

NEW DELHI: Ruling Samajwadi Party appeared to be headed for a split today as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his party supremo and father Mulayam Singh were engaged in an open face-off, sacking each other's loyalists Shivpal Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav. Who said what: Akhilesh Yadav: Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday sacked his uncle Shivpal Yadav and three other ministers from the cabinet. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister openly blamed party MP and Mulayam Singh loyalist Amar Singh as the villain behind the unprecedented rift in the Samajwadi Party but said he had the highest regards for his father. Akhilesh Yadav also described himself as the political successor to Mulayam Singh Yadav, the founder leader of the Samajwadi Party and one of the country's most experienced politicians. Akhilesh Yadav also said he would attend on November 5 the Silver Jubilee function of the party, which has a brute majority in the 403-member assembly. Shivpal Yadav: Shivpal Yadav said his removal from the Akhilesh ministry was an attempt by some people to weaken the Samajwadi Party and that he was not worried about being dropped, asserting that the upcoming Assembly polls would be fought under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav. He announced the expulsion of Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years. Shivpal said that Ram Gopal Yadav had always behaved like a dictator and had now connived with "communal forces" to destabilize and weaken the SP. "He met a senior BJP leader thrice and is trying to save his son Akshay and daughter-in-law from action by the CBI," Shivpal Yadav said, linking the two family members with a tainted chief engineer of Noida Authority. He also said that when the earlier BSP government hounded the SP workers, Ram Gopal Yadav never came to their aid. Ram Gopal Yadav Ram Gopal Yadav on Sunday wrote a one-page letter to party workers saying the future of the SP lay in Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. In his letter Ram Gopal said that people with Akhilesh were those who have spilled blood for the party and made great sacrifices whereas those who "minted crores and misused power" were on the other side. Those who oppose Akhilesh won't be able to show their faces in the legislative assembly. Where Akhilesh is, victory follows," he said in the letter. Azam Khan: Azam Khan blamed "one single outsider" for the "unfortunate" developments. "It is happening due to one single outsider who has penetrated into the ruling party s family and I have been apprising my colleagues about his detrimental presence in the party. Had a serious and severe action been taken, the damage could have been averted," he said. The SP national general secretary termed the stern action taken by chief minister "late but inevitable". BJP: BJP demanded that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav prove his majority in the Assembly or resign, labelling the party as "a sinking ship" which has failed on every front. "CM Akhilesh Yadav should resign or prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly," UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya said Aditya Yadav: Aditya Yadav, son of Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Shivpal Yadav said that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is not forming a new party. Aditya also said "there are no differences in the Samajwadi Party now". Talking to reporters at an event here, he said: "Akhilesh has always fought elections on his own and won. He will win this time also." Udayveer Singh: Udayveer, a member of the legislative council, had said: “SP state president Shivpal Yadav and other members of his family have misled you (Mulayam) and hatched a conspiracy against CM Akhilesh, who should be made party national president and given all the powers.” Udayveer, a school friend of Akhilesh who has stuck to him, had reportedly also made some comments about Mulayam's second wife and the Chief Minister's stepmother, which angered the SP's first family. He had accused Mulayam Singh’s second wife of being part of the conspiracy against Uttar Pradesh CM and said the party patriarch needed to make way for his son. Udayveer was expelled from the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) for six years on Saturday. (With inputs from agencies)