Mulayam Singh Yadav will be holding a high-level meeting of party leaders to assess the situation.
The brewing family feud within the Yadav clan has spilled over and stands at a precipice from where it may soon hurtle the Samajwadi Party into a vertical split. As the Mahabharat between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav enters the final round, indications are that with push coming to shove, the younger Yadav may split the party before the UP assembly elections. The final curtain may fall on Monday when Mulayam takes a decision after assessing the developments in a high-level meeting of party leaders.
Situation precipitated on Sunday tumbling SP into chaos with quid pro quo sackings of each others' close confidants by both Akhilesh and Mulayam. As soon as Akhilesh sacked Balram Yadav, Shadab Fatim, Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and his uncle Shivpal Yadav, considered close to Amar Singh, Mulayam responded by expelling party's face in the parliament for last 20 years, Ramgopal Yadav, also considered to be the mentor of the new avatar of Akhilesh.
In a no holds barred press briefing, Shivpal announced Ramgopal's expulsion for six years from the party for conspiring against the party in cahoots with the BJP. Praising the chief minister for his development works, Shivpal asked Akhilesh not to fall in Ramgopal's trap. Sources confided that Akhilesh is ready with a new symbol for the new outfit that may be called Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party with motorcycle replacing cycle as its symbol.
Yet the younger Yadav kept the window open for last minute compromise with his father saying that he would attend the Silver Jubilee function of Samajwadi Party on November 5. Sensing opportunity in the raging feud , BJP state party chief Keshav Prasad Maurya demanded a floor test. While top SP leaders were cautious and refrained from taking anybody but Netaji's (Mulayam) side, despair seems to be writ large on the lower rung leaders and party cadre who are in a dilemma on how to approach public in coming elections.
The fresh twist to the drama came all of a sudden when Ramgopal Yadav wrote an open letter to the party cadres from Mumbai at 6 AM asking them to put their full faith only in Akhilesh Yadav. Exhorting cadres "who have shed blood and suffered humiliation for the party" to rally behind Akhilesh with whom stand people, Ramgopal said "victory is there where Akhilesh is".
His letter came in the backdrop of Shivpal Yadav expelling Udaiveer Singh, a member of the legislative council, for six years on Saturday after he wrote a letter to Mulayam asking him step down as SP president to make way for Akhilesh.
Hardening the already drawn battle lines, Ramgopal responded again in the evening by writing another letter, this time titled "for publication". Describing Mulayam Singh as "not only his elder brother but Guru who taught him politics" Ramgopal asked him to come out of the clutches of "demonic powers".
Refuting charges of conspiring with the BJP, Ramgopal appealed to the party cadres not to come in anyone's "delusion and deception" and "stay united" behind Akhilesh.
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