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Samajwadi Party shows mafia don the door as Akhilesh puts foot down

Party revokes merger with Mukhtar Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal as CM has his way

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Akhilesh Yadav at a roza iftar party in Lucknow on Saturday
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With Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav putting his foot down, the Samajwadi Party's central parliamentary board (CPB) on Saturday nixed the merger of the Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari with the ruling SP.

Akhilesh had been opposing the idea tooth and nail since the beginning. Ansari has a criminal history and has been in jail for the murder of a BJP legislator. The UP CM was drawing all-round flak for the move engineered mainly by his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav who has often asserted himself as an alternative power centre in the party as also in the government. The episode has led to the cold war within the ruling Yadav clan spilling out into the open.

"Mukhtar Ansari will not be welcome in the party. We don't want such people in the party," Akhilesh asserted at a programme here earlier in the day, publicly venting his unhappiness over the merger. "I don't agree with Shivpal ji on this," he said when asked that the decision had been announced by his uncle and state elections in-charge at a press meet three days ago.

Sources said there were tense moments at the CPB meeting as UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, who is also the state SP president, vociferously opposed the merger "manipulated" behind his back. The merger was announced when Akhilesh was out of town.

Interestingly, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who cleared the merger despite Akhilesh's stiff resistance, remained a mute spectator during most of the meeting while another uncle, Ramgopal Yadav, seen as the party's think tank, played the role of peacemaker and arbiter.

The unseemly episode within the party may have ended for the time being, but the power struggle within the Yadav family shows all the signs of aggravating now with Shivpal and Akhilesh clearly ranged on different sides of an invisible battle line.

"The issue has been settled," Ramgopal Yadav announced before the media on emerging from the marathon two-hour meeting, which apparently discussed little besides the Mukhtar Ansari blooper.

"The merger of the Qaumi Ekta Dal has been nullified," the Ramgopal said. He said senior minister Balram Yadav (whom Akhilesh had sacked in a fit of anger for facilitating the merger) would be re-inducted into the ministry.

Ramgopal parried most questions about what transpired at the meeting, saying it was an "internal matter" of the party.

Akhilesh had drawn a lot of flak from the opposition and the media for allegedly banking on a mafia don for minority votes in east UP. His image of "Mr Clean" was in danger of being permanently sullied just before a crucial assembly election due to the merger.

During the 2012 assembly election, Akhilesh had earned kudos for refusing to let mafia don DP Yadav enter the SP despite an announcement made by Mulayam himself. During his tenure as CM, he has dropped at least half a dozen ministers over criminal charges, boosting his image as a young, dynamic and no-nonsense leader and administrator.

Even though Akhilesh has had his way and managed to salvage his reputation to a great extent, the ugly episode promises to linger in public memory for longer than he might imagine.

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