Viral Sach: Did 'angry' Akhilesh snatch mic from father Mulayam on stage?

NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing political tussle in the Samajwadi Party which is on a brink of a split, with Akhilesh and Mulayam divided into two camps, a video emerged on social media showing an aggressive UP chief minister snatching mic from father on state. The video, which claims to make apparent the bitterness in relation of father Mulayam and son Akhilesh, has been shared and circulated widely on internet. The clip shows SP patriarch addressing a gathering from stage while the angry UP CM, who's standing alongside him, almost snatched the microphone from Mulayam. Party MLC Ashu Malik, with one hand on Akhilesh's shoulder, can also be seen in the video. In our investigation, we found the video was shot during SP national executive meeting convened by Mulayam on October 24 which had brought warring factions on one dais turned ugly. First, father and son argued and later in the same meeting, Shivpal Yadav snatched Akhilesh Yadav's mike and called him a "liar". What happened on Oct 24: Mulayam was stepping away from the microphone and Akhilesh moving towards it to say something. Ashu Malik, a Shivpal supporter, jumped on the dais and pulled the mike towards him. An angry Akhilesh was heard shouting: "Ashu Malik, I know that you and Amar Singh have been likening my father and me to Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. You people had planted an article against me in (a newspaper)." Shivpal took a few steps towards Akhilesh and shouted: "The chief minister is lying. We didn't ask anybody to write an article against you." As chaos engulfed the auditorium, Akhilesh retorted: "Don't worry. I am not going to let you distribute the party tickets (for Assembly elections). Only I will choose the candidates." "Now I will not say anything," Shivpal said and stepped back. Security personnel of Akhilesh entered the hall and made a passage for him to leave. At that point, a voice emerged from the audience: "Who is Mumtaz Mahal?" The reference to Shah Jahan's wife, in whose memory he built the Taj Mahal but the emperor himself was said to have been imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb at the culmination of a power struggle, was not lost on the audience at a time whispers are doing the rounds about the "Kaikeyi factor" in the strife. By the time the swords were sheathed for the day, there was no clarity on which way the Samajwadi Party was headed.