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Uncle Ramgopal bats for Akhilesh after his ‘political dispute’ with Shivpal
Samajwadi Party heavyweight and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cousin, Ramgopal Yadav, said on Thursday it was wrong for the party to have removed Akhilesh Yadav from the Uttar Pradesh chief’s post without consulting with him.
Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav said on Thursday the leadership made a mistake by removing Akhilesh Yadav as the Uttar Pradesh chief of the party without consulting him and that there were differences within the outfit due to a “misunderstanding”.
Ramgopal, the SP’s national general secretary and Mulayam’s cousin, met Akhilesh in Lucknow a day after the party was thrown into turmoil over the Uttar Pradesh chief minister curtailing uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav’s powers. The move came within hours of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav taking away the party’s state presidentship from his chief minister-son and giving it to brother Shivpal.
Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday his decision to take away three ministries from uncle Shivpal was not a family fight but a political dispute.
“Differences do take place on some minor point and they can be resolved.... The leadership, though not deliberately, had made a mistake when CM was removed from the post of (state) president (of SP) without being consulted,” Ramgopal, who is known to be close to Mulayam’s son Akhilesh, told reporters before the meeting.
“He (CM) should have been asked to resign and he would have tendered it. He could have been told that elections are coming and you continue as CM and the work of state president will be taken care of by him (Shivpal). Some misunderstanding has taken place and there is nothing more to it,” he said.
He added that there was “no crisis” in the UP ruling party.
“Some decisions are made due to which people feel that there is some problem in the party. There is nothing like that. This happens in all parties in different situations,” Ramgopal said.
When asked about the CM’s statement that he has taken some decisions on his own, Ramgopal said: “Whatever decisions the CM has taken were on the directions of party president (Mulayam). Some decisions, he (CM) said, he has taken himself. It is not unnatural that a CM of a state like Uttar Pradesh takes some decisions on his own. It is natural... he should take decisions”.
Over the reports of party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Amar Singh’s, alleged role in the political crisis in the state, Ramgopal said: “When you have come to conclusion, what can I say.... I will let you know later.”
He also denied reports that Mulayam had convened a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board on Thursday in Lucknow.” I am the secretary of the board. I summon meetings. I have not called any meeting,” Ramgopal said.
With PTI inputs
