Mulayam snubs Akhilesh, says CM will be decided only by new legislators
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav put a question mark on the future of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday when he said that the next chief minister would be decided after the upcoming Assembly elections.
In his first press conference after the war within the Samajwadi Party began last month, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said, “The party will decide on the next chief ministerial candidate only after the results of the 2017 Assembly elections are announced. This is not the job of the media to decide. The newly elected MLAs of the party will elect the new Chief Minister after the elections and overall it’s the job of the parliamentary board of the party”.
This is being seen as a clear snub to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav whose differences with his father and uncle, Shivpal Yadav, are becoming increasingly irreconcilable.
He said that in 2012, people had voted in his name but he had named Akhilesh as the Chief Minister after the results came in.
Though Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav vehemently denied that there was any rift in the party or the family, he also emphasized that he had built up his party from a scratch.
“My family has remained united for three generations and there is no question of differences in the family. The Samajwadi Party was launched by me and the party has attained its present position because of me,” he said.
Referring to the fact that five members of his family won the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls, he said “people have faith on our family”. He also added that his family has formed four governments in the state.
The statements by Mulayam Singh came hours after chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said in an interview that he “might be cornered, but he will not be defeated”. Mr Akhilesh Yadav further said that as a child, he had to keep his own name because there was no one to name him.
Responding to the chief minister’s statement, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said that there was nothing great about keeping one’s own name. “Dharmendra (Yadav) also kept his own name. Akhilesh’s mother was unwell and my sisters brought him up,” he said. This is the first time that Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has spoken about his family issues in public.
Control family first: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah, on Friday, advised the Samajwadi Party to first control the infighting within it before trying to control the law and order situation in the state.
Mr Shah said in Kanpur on Friday that, “The government has failed to control the law and order situation but how will those who cannot control their own family, be even expected to control the state”.
“Uttar Pradesh is very big Akhilesh Bhaiyya... first of all, control your family and only then will a bit of peace return to the state,” the BJP president added.
The BJP president, while addressing a function to mark the conclusion of the 174-day long Dhamma Chetna Yatra, said that the BSP had supported the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for ten years which had insulted Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
