Samajwadi Party
The Times of India
The Times of India
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Samajwadi Party
The Times of India
The Times of India
Election campaigns
Harvard prof for 2017 polls
Subhash Mishra, SP campaign in Harvard prof's hands, Sep 19 2016 : The Times of India
The battle of image-makers in UP just got more interesting.
After Congress's attempt to reclaim its position in the state through political strategist Prashant Kishor, the ruling SP has roped in world-renowned political consultant Steve Jarding of Harvard University to handle the election campaign for its attempt to win a second consecutive term. Jarding, a campaign manager and political consultant for the Democrats in the US, was already advising SP on various issues, but is now officially on board.
On assuming command, the first thing Jarding did was redesign the publicity campaign for the SP government's welfare schemes, and actress Vidya Balan was roped in to endorse Samajwadi Pension Yojana. Talking exclusively to TOI in Lucknow, Jarding said: “Samajwadi Pension Scheme has reached far and wide, but the problem is that the beneficiaries don't know whether it is a state scheme or central. So I suggested to the chief minister that the publicity programmes and campaigns be redesigned.“
Jarding, who is in the city with his team to finalise the micro-level management of electioneering for SP, claimed that CM Akhilesh Yadav had an “impressive connect with the youth and people in rural areas, who see him as a person dedicated to development“.
Talking about his strategy , he said that in UP -India's most populous state -one universal manifesto may not work. He said that the CM has to get feedback from every constituency on what is required at the local level. “For example, non-payment of cane arrears may be an issue in western UP, but it is a non-issue in Bundelkhand. So, he has to draw up different programmes for different regions,“ he said.
Jarding will also train SP candidates on how to communicate with constituents and address issues. His teams are camping in villages, getting feedback and sending it to the CM's office for urgent redressal. “The chief minister told me to stay in the house of the poorest of poor villagers, live with him for about a week, and then report. So I did, and sent my report. District officials addressed the issues within 24 hours,“ he added.From his primary survey , and from the feedback given to the CM, a clean image emerges of Akhilesh. “This could be the game-changer,“ remarked Jarding.
Jarding, who teaches public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, has been a campaigner, manager, political consultant and strategist since 1980. His clients include US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former US vice-president Al Gore, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
2016: Family feuds
The Times of India, Jul 02 2016]
Subhash Mishra
Four years ago when he became UP's youngest chief minister, Akhilesh took on his chin the jibes of UP having “four-anda-half CMs“ -the four being his father Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, uncles Ram Gopal and Shivpal and Mulayam's closest aide Azam Khan. Akhilesh was the half. He has come a long way since.
As the 43-year-old CM pushes through with his decisions, the fault lines within the family seem to be wide in the open: the latest is the friction over the SP taking into its fold Qaumi Ekta Dal, the party founded by three Ansari brothers, one of whom, goon-MLA Mukhtar Ansari is behind bars for the murder of an ex-BJP MLA. In the swift actionreaction that played out over barely a week, Shivpal announced the merger with QED, believed to be Mulayam's idea. Akhilesh sacked the minister who facilitated the merger, then took a step back to announce there were no differences within the family . Within a day though, SP called off the merger and the father-son duo seemed to have called a truce.As the merger was cancelled, Akhilesh took the minister back. The incident has left uncle Shivpal a bitter man. But this is only the latest in a string of issues where the SP's traditional balance of power has been upset. For years the unwritten code was Mulayam called the shots and Shivpal executed his orders as more and more family members became netas. The Mulayam clan today is easily India's biggest political family: there are, at last count, 20 members holding political office including a chief minister, six MPs and a senior minister.
It wasn't for nothing that a few months after Akhilesh was made CM that MSY showed his irritation over Akhilesh's ministers' poor performance. It was then seen as a father advising his `obedient' son. Akhilesh was expected to follow tradition, strike a fine balance working on the orders of his father and uncle.
But Akhilesh has bent the father-uncle axis on many decisions ever since his father nominated him CM after SP's landslide win in 2012; a move that had reportedly made Shivpal unhappy . “He's been Mulayam's Man Friday for nearly two decades. He believed he was the heir apparent,“ says a political observer.At the time, uncle Ram Gopal stood solidly behind Akhilesh, and he was made CM.
Shivpal gradually came around, reconciled to his role as the Number Two in the government. However, when his political initiatives were overturned one after the other -in most cases at Akhilesh's insistence -his patience wore thin, say supporters.
Three instances have hurt him in particular. It was Shivpal who had formalised the pre-poll grand alliance `mahagathbandhan' in Bihar, attending several meetings to make it a reality. But just before the polls Mulayam walked out of the alliance; the two votaries against the `gathbandhan' were Akhilesh and Ram Gopal. Shivpal's second bid at forging an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal was publicly denounced by both Akhilesh and Ram Gopal. And now the QED fiasco.
Over the QED merger, Shivpal has also been painted as someone who does not hesitate to hobnob with lawless elements such as Mukhtar Ansari. To mark his protest, however muted, Shivpal skipped two programmes he had to attend with Akhilesh, including the swearing-in of new ministers. This triggered talk of a full-blown family tussle. Two days later, Shivpal turned up at brother Ram Gopal's 70th birthday celebrations, but it is said the warm vibes were missing.
The fissures in the open couldn't have shown up at a worse time -elections are months away . Not helping matters was the reportedly significant clash between the partychief father and CM-son over candidature to a family member. Aparna Yadav is Mulayam's younger son's wife. Mulayam has already announced her as party nominee from Lucknow Cantt, a move that Akhilesh had no idea about and reportedly wasn't for it. But understandably, he didn't make an issue of it.
The latest QED spat played out in public months before the end of Akhilesh's CMship.With a strong BJP on the one hand, and an unpredictable Mayawati on the other, the SP family's widening schisms can make the poll road a tricky manoeuvre.
The rift of Sept 2016
Crisis originated at Amar’s party?
It All Began at Amar Singh's 5-Star Bash?
When Mulayam Singh Yadav attended a glittering do hosted by long-time associate and party MP Amar Singh at a Delhi 5-star hotel on Sunday night, little did he know it would trigger a family feud, endangering his party's prospects months ahead of the assembly elections.
The avalanche of trouble got activated at this party, attended by Mulayam's younger brother Shivpal Yadav and former chief secretary (sacked by CM Akhilesh Yadav after the event) Deepak Singhal. Akhilesh, who's always had reservations over Amar Singh's proximity to Mulayam and his return to SP , was not present.
At the gathering, Amar Singh, in Singhal's presence, is learnt to have told Mulayam that CBI was zeroing in on Gayatri Prajapati, then state mining minister and his arrest could spell trouble for the family , party and the government.
On Monday , Mulayam called Amar Singh and Singhal to his Delhi residence, insiders told TOI. When both stood by what they had said the previous night, Mulayam apparently called Akhilesh and asked him to change the portfolios of Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh.
Akhilesh, unhappy with both, sacked them.
On Tuesday , Prajapati met Mulayam in Delhi. He insist ed that Amar Singh and Sin ghal's claims were baseless.
Sources close to the party su premo said Gayatri convinced Mulayam that he was being made a victim of injustice.
This made Mulayam ask Akhilesh to re move Singhal. The CM, said to be displeased with Singhal, followed the orders.
Stung by the action, Sin ghal rushed to Mulayam and clarified that he did not have a view on the ministers. He had been merely listening to Amar Singh.
Soon Amar Singh, in Luc know till Tuesday forenoon, flew to Delhi and met Mulay am, and pleaded with him to reinstate Singhal. It is learnt that Mulayam called Akhilesh again on Tuesday , asking him to reinstate Singhal, Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh.
Akhilesh turned down the request, sources said, saying this would send out a wrong message so close to the polls and ahead of his state-wide campaign. Mulayam then tried to rope in cousin Ram Gopal Yadav to convince Akhilesh. But the CM held his ground. Annoyed, Mulayam got him removed from the state president's post and handed it over to Shivpal.
Akhilesh hit back stripping Shivpal of key portfolios -PWD, irrigation, co-operatives and revenue.Shivpal, who was at Etawah, left for Delhi on Wednesday and met Mulayam.
CM not mollified
TWO KEY FIGURES AT THE HEART OF THE RIFT IN LUCKNOW'S FAMILY NO. 1
In the eye of the latest storm that's hit the SP family , Gayatri Prasad Prajapati has had MSY's support for long. He first sprung on the `SP notables' stage when he shared space with the brass at a 2011 Agra convention and announced a donation of Rs 25 lakh to the party.
Armed with a poverty card, the property dealer went on to defeat Congressman Sanjay Sinh's wife Amita Sinh to win Amethi in the 2012 assembly polls -his first victory in the Congress stronghold, having contested from here regularly since 1993. Once he won, he hired a PR agency , a first for any SP neta. Prajapati was rewarded with position of junior minister of irrigation under Shivpal in February 2013.
Thereafter, he took oath with every expansion till January 2014 -from being MoS mining to getting independent charge in 2013. He was made cabinet minister for mining in January 2014.
Akhilesh Yadav may have sacked him over graft charges on Monday , but corruption allegations aren't new to Prajapati. Before the 2002 polls, he had declared his net worth at Rs 91,436.By 2012, his immovable assets were worth Rs 1.2 crore, movable assets Rs 51 lakh.
A complaint with the Lokayukta ac cused him of owning assets worth Rs 942 crore. Although the former Lokayukta, NK Mehrotra, gave him a clean chit, RTI activist Nutan Thakur and IPS officer Amitabh Thakur got a court order to file an FIR against Prajapati.
That FIR was allegedly followed by a call from Mulayam to Thakur, who lodged a police complaint accusing the SP chief of threatening him. The episode brought the SP disrepute but did not dent his support for Prajapati. He has run to MSY this time too, but this time the complaint is against the chief 's son.
Peace moves
'Samajwadi Party made unintentional mistake removing Akhilesh as UP party chief', Ram Gopal Yadav says
NEW DELHI: "The Samajwadi Party (SP) leadership made a mistake - though not deliberately - by removing Akhilesh Yadav+ as the chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the SP," said Ram Gopal Yadav, another party leader, according to PTI.
The removal of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh as the state's party chief "led to a misunderstanding...the matter will be resolved," said Ram Gopal, who is one of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's brothers and one of Akhilesh's uncles. UP CM Akhileshdenied a family rift. " This is a fight in government, not a family fight ," Akhilesh told the media. "If people from outside the family keep interfering how will things (government) work". Speculation is that he was hinting at the involvement of not just he SP's Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, but also a bureaucrat named Deepak Singhal.
Roiling the family dynamic some more, is Akhilesh's father, Mulayam, who, it seems, supports his brother Shivpal over his son, and even met with Amar Singh not long ago.
First Mulayam gives Akhilesh edge over Shivpal
Nephew scores over chacha in family war Sep 18 2016 : The Times of India
Mulayam Singh Yadav was forced to tweak his peace formula on Saturday to give an assertive CM an important say in the selection of candidates for next year's polls. The SP chief 's outburst against Akhilesh soon after made it plain that the latter had wrested the gain in the face of resistance, reports Subhash Mishra.
Akhilesh restored some portfolios to uncle Shivpal Yadav and allotted some new ones, but he did not return PWD, which has a budget bigger than all of Shivpal's 13 departments put together.
Then Mulayam savages Akhilesh, placates Shivpal
`Is CM Because Of Me', Praises Brother Shivpal
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has never shied away from criticising his son Akhilesh, the chief minister of UP, in public. But on 17 Sept 2016, hours after tweaking his `peace formula' to give Akhilesh greater power -particularly in choosing candidates for the coming state elections -Mulayam launched arguably his most scathing attack yet on his son, comparing him unfavourably with his brother Shivpal.
Citing Shivpal's efforts in consolidating the support base of SP, he questioned Akhilesh's contribution towards the political success of the party . Mulayam said Shivpal was opposed to Akhilesh being made CM after the 2012 polls and had suggested that he be elevated to the position only after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But eventually , everybody agreed and Akhilesh became the CM.
“What happened despite his being the CM? Only five members from the family won.If I had listened to Shivpal, we would have won 30-35 seats and I would have been the PM.“ If Akhilesh is unhappy with Shivpal because of this (appointment of the latter as the SP state chief), he should remember that people have accepted him as CM because he is my son. He never had any individual standing in politics,“ Mulayam told SP workers at the party headquarters.
The most charitable spin that is being put on Mulayam's harsh remarks against his son and his praise for Shivpal is that they were aimed at placating his brother, who hasn't been getting along with Akhilesh. With assembly elections just a few months away , the war within the Yadav family comes at an inopportune moment for the SP .
The SP supremo said Akhilesh won the 2012 elections because of the promising party manifesto drafted by him along with Shivpal and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav. Terming the CM's ambitious projects like Metro as unnecessary , Mulayam said funds allocated for the project could have been used for welfare of farmers.
Mulayam said Shivpal had worked hard for the party . When a party worker demanded action against Amar Singh, Mulayam silenced him saying: “Do you know who Amar Singh is?“ Amar Singh, he said, had stood by him when all others had dumped him after a CBI probe began against him. Mulayam's comments on Amar Singh have put an end to speculation of action against the Thakur leader, at least in the near future.
Mulayam said most of the schemes the CM talks about were initiated by him. “Almost all the schemes he talks about were launched by me, be it Kanya Vidya Dhan, free power to farmers for irrigation, or free medicine to poor,“ he said Taking a dig at Akhilesh's proposed Vikas Rath Yatra, Mulayam said it was no big deal and he had also taken out such Yatras and won elections earlier.Mulayam said SP formed had government thrice before and he became Union defence minister when Akhilesh was not there on the political scene. “Today , Akhilesh holds the important post of CM and he should know how to take everybody along.“
Rival supporters take to the streets
Pervez IqbalSiddiqui, War within Yadav clan spills on to UP streets Sep 18 2016 : The Times of India
Saturday was a day of unprecedented protests in Lucknow's VIP zone, which houses the CM's residence, the SP office, and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's bungalow, with the war within the Yadav family spilling on to the streets.
The protests were initiated by the supporters of senior party member and Mulayam's brother Shivpal, after he resigned on Thursday night, but on Saturday , it was the youth brigade backing CM Akhilesh Yadav that turned belligerent, putting up a bigger show of strength. Akhilesh's supporters also held demonstrations in Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Bhadohi and Kanpur.
Thousands of protesters broke down barricades to reach MSY's house, demanding that Akhilesh be reinstated as the party's UP chief. The chiefs of SP-allied organisations -including Lohia Vahini, Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha, Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade and Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha -declared they won't work under Shivpal and put in their papers. The resignations were rejected by Akhilesh.
Members of SP's youth wing first gathered at the party headquarters around 9am, raising slogans -for example, “Netaji nyay karo, Akhilesh ko bahaal karo (Netaji do justice, reinstate Akhilesh)“ and “desh mein-pradesh mein, vishwas hai Akhilesh mein (in country and state, our trust lies in Akhilesh)“ -and insisting that SP's young workers were unwilling to work under any other state president.
Some of the protesters lay down on the road, causing a traffic jam. Some climbed up to treetops with posters of Akhilesh, chanting more slogans: “Yeh jawani hai qurbaan, Akhilesh bhaiya tere naam (We sacrifice our youth for Akhilesh)“ and “Samajwadi Party ki majboori hai, Akhilesh bhaiya zaroori hai (Akhilesh is important for SP).“
After two hours of demonstrations, they headed for Mulayam's residence about a kilometre away . Apart from Shivpal's appointment as state president, Akhilesh's supporters also expressed anger at SP's Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, described by the CM as an “outsider“ responsible for the war within. Protesters tore up his posters and slapped these with shoes. In Allahabad, supporters protested with posters, and claimed the youth in SP would not tolerate “any insult to the CM“.
The banners bore slogans like “chacha ko hataao, Samajwadi Party ko bachaao (Remove the uncle, save SP)“ and “youth ne thaana hai, Akhilesh ko adhyaksha banana hai“ (youths have pledged to make Akhilesh party chief)“.
In Varanasi, Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha activists burnt an effigy of `baahri log' (outsiders) and demanded the state party chief 's post for Akhilesh.
Oct 2106
The Times of India
Ram Gopal Yadav
Pervez Siddiqui, Ram Gopal's story: Three letters and a sacking, Oct 24 2016 : The Times of India
SP's former general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav drew the battle lines early on Sunday morning with a letter, his second since last Saturday (October 15), stating that Samajwadi Party's future lay with Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav.
In the open letter, Ram Gopal said his aim was to ensure that a government was formed in the state under the leadership of his nephew Akhilesh. In the missive, seen as a direct attack on SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, especially since he had asked his cousin to make way for Akhilesh in his earlier letter, Ram Gopal also stated that “some people in the party want to see Akhilesh Yadav lose“. Hours after Ram Gopal's letter, ad dressed to “pyare saathiyon (dear colleagues)“ -hit the social media, he was sacked from the party for six years.
The day ended with a third letter from Ram Gopal, issued in the evening, wherein he described his expulsion as the result of a “conspiracy by demonic forces who have surrounded the SP chief “. Referring to Mulayam as his guru (mentor) in politics, he once again vowed his support to Akhilesh and described the present crisis in the Yadav clan as a “dharam yuddh“.
Ram Gopal said Mulayam would only understand the reality after he was “freed from the clutches of the demonic forces“.
Mulayam’s strategy and legacy
The Times of India
To be called the most slippery of politicians by CPM neta Prakash Karat makes for a formidable reputation. It fed legends about the wily former wrestler's cunning “charkha dao“ in mud pits of the Hindi heartland, and Karat's exasperation over Mulayam's `U-turn' on the India-US nuclear deal only added another big political name to be inveigled by his googlies.
The long list would go on to include Trinamool neta Mamata Banerjee who was left close to tears when Mulayam abruptly ditched her in his plans to oppose Pranab Mukherjee as President. It is, therefore, no small irony that in the evening of his political life, Mulayam should be caught off guard by a clan war and pinned down by his own son with warring cousins adding to the feud.
Amid doomsday speculation about the fate of Samajwadi Party , just how Mulayam negotiates the landmines laid by his clansmen would deliver the final verdict on his famed shrewdness that often kept him ahead of rivals for five decades. How he takes his final bow is a legacy issue for Mulayam. And he is aware of it.
Ever since son and CM Akhilesh Yadav rebelled against uncle Shivpal last month and family members and partymen split on factional lines, Mulayam has maintained an enigmatic stance. He has appeared to side with his `Hanuman' brother Shivpal even as he shares a residence, and surely an evening word, with his seemingly straying son `Tipu'.Such is Mulayam's reputation that many still wonder if he has a secret move up his sleeve.
By general reckoning, the verdict on Mulayam would follow a simple formula. A split in SP with the son going the other way would mean that MSY failed in the trickiest test. He would feel let down in estimating that anointing Akhilesh will keep the family's political turf in loyal hands. But a peaceful settlement ahead of the crucial assembly polls next year will convey that he teetered on the edge but never lost balance.
It was no mean feat that the disciple of Charan Singh outwitted the late farmer leader's son Ajit back in the late 1980s, to capture the “Samajwadi“ platform. Over the years, his “pragmatism“ brought him chief ministership, Union ministership and cosy relationships with various PMOs, as ethics and colleagues fell by the wayside. In power or not, he was always in favour. He did not blink while cozying up to BJP to gain the CM's chair in 2003.
His success in effecting a generational transition made him stand out. Covetous cousins and colleagues could barely comprehend as he quietly installed Akhilesh as UP CM after a massive victory in 2012.In contrast, his contemporaries, M Karunanidhi and Bal Thackeray , failed to reconcile warring sons and nephews.Even Parkash Singh Badal has played it safe till now.
But just when Akhilesh is at the fag end of his first tenure, the household has been racked by the storm of soaring ambition. It will weigh on Mulayam that the shadows of his second wife and son Prateek also darken the plot. Either the son did not turn out to be as pliant as assumed or he misread the angst of cousins and their sons, or even his second wife.
The meetings over the coming days are essentially to prove that he is better than his socialist co-travellers in succession battles.
The importance of Amar Singh
The businessman with the reputation of being Mulayam's “crisis manager“, Amar Singh, is now one of the main reasons for the crisis in the Samajwadi Party .
What, though, makes Amar significant enough for Mulayam to publicly upbraid his son? Mulayam's friendship with Amar goes back to the days when Veer Bahadur Singh was chief minister of the Congress government in UP in 1985-88. Amar joined SP formally in 1996 and went to Rajya Sabha, courtesy Mulayam.
Amar came close to Mulayam during the 1996 Third Front government, giving him a chance to liaise with the who's who in Delhi. Amar raised funds for SP , served as a bridge between the party and industrialists and brought Bollywood to Saifai's simplistic politics. When Mulayam became defence minister in the Third Front government, Amar assumed the role of the second-most powerful man in SP . The Amar-Mulayam dosti reached its peak in 2003 when Singh played a crucial role in engineering defections in the Bahujan Samaj Party to form an SP government in UP . Singh then used his caste clout to swing it for Mulayam.
Later, Mulayam formed the UP Development Council with Singh as chairperson.Members of the council included Anil Ambani, Adi and Parmeshwar Godrej, Kumar Mangalam Birla, L K Khaitan and Subrata Roy Sahara. Actor Amitabh Bachchan became UP's brand ambassador. Amar Singh even arranged for former US president Bill Clinton to visit Lucknow. In 2008, Amar and Mulayam were instrumental in saving the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre on the Indo-US nuclear deal trust vote where Amar was accused of bribing three BJP MPs to vote for UPA.
Amar's rise in the SP ranks also resulted in the gradual marginalisation of other biggies in the party . Beni Prasad Verma, Raj Babbar and Azam Khan were gradually pushed to the fringes, with both Babbar and Azam getting expelled from the party on charges of indiscipline.The beginning of Amar's end in the SP , though, came with the political coup he allegedly essayed against Mulayam's daughter-in-law Dimple, in her electoral debut from Firozabad, against SP rebel Babbar. Dimple was to contest the Lok Sabha by-polls in November 2009 after Akhilesh vacated the seat. Following Dimple's poll drubbing, Amar was eventually expelled from SP in February 2010.
Since his return to SP after his six-year exile, Amar Singh has been trying to regain the space he once enjoyed. His greatest accomplishment in Mulayam's own words: Freeing Mulayam from the clutches of a particularly complicated legal case that could have seen the SP chief in jail.
Senior SP functionaries suggest Mulayam is keen to re-establish communication channels with the powers that be in New Delhi, and believe Amar Singh still holds the key . Akhilesh throwing a spanner in the works, though, was the reason for Mulayam's Monday outburst.
Quote- unquote/ Who said what/ Oct 2016
The Times of India
The Times of India
As on Oct 24, 2016
AMAR KATHA, Oct 25 2016 : The Times of India
Amar Singh sat with you for three hours.You can remove me if you want, but find out from your sources; Amar Singh said there'll be upheaval in UP politics in October and that Akhilesh will not be CM in November. Ram Gopal ji didn't say that. If someone conspires against you and your party, I am compelled to speak: Akhilesh Yadav
I've been in touch with Amar Singh. But I've never hidden I met him. Tum log to unke pairo ki dhool ke layak bhi nahi ho (you are not worth the dust of his feet): Shivpal Yadav
Amar Singh is my younger brother. You can abuse me, but he's the one who saved me from going to jail. I cannot give up on Amar Singh & Shivpal.Amar respects me. When he'd visit, he would sit at my feet: Mulayam Singh Yadav
Letters fly back and forth
Swati Mathur, Akhilesh treated shabbily: Letter, Oct 25 2016 : The Times of India
The Times of India
Another letter bomb surfaced in the Samajwadi Party camp on Monday morning, adding an as yet unexposed dimension to the raging Yadav Pari-War -that the men of the house are not the only ones squabbling for supremacy .
The two-page note written by Firozabad MP Akshay Yadav, son of sacked SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, attempts to corner SP state president Shivpal Yadav and hints at widening differences in the Samajwadi household. On Sunday , Shivpal had accused Ram Gopal, of colluding with the BJP to save his son, daughter-in-law and himself from the CBI in the multicrore Yadav Singh case.
Akshay's letter comes soon after Akhilesh aide Udayveer Singh's missive had hinted that Mulayam's second wife, Sadhna Gupta, had driven a wedge between father and son and is the first acknowlegement by an SP family member that all is not well in the Samajwadi kitchens. Akshay writes, “Akhilesh Yadav was harassed mentally but delivered on his development goals in UP . Lately, however, he was treated so badly in the family that on the day he shifted to his new house, Akhilesh's belongings in his old quarters were thrown out and the rooms locked up. Those who did this then went abroad.“
Akshay does not identify anyone in his open letter but suggests Shivpal is “jealous“ of Akhilesh's rise in the party and wants to be CM himself. It also returns fire at Shivpal, accusing him of colluding with the BJP ,a charge that Shivpal had levelled at Ram Gopal just a day earlier.
