Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday insisted there were no differences between him and his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav even as both the factions met the Election Commission to claim on the election symbol of the party, cycle.”
After meeting Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, Mulayam Singh told the media, in an apparent reference to Ram Gopal Yadav, that "one person" was creating problems in the party.
"There are some who have influenced my son (Akhilesh). I had a talk with him last night and also in the morning with him over the issue. There is no dispute between my son and me.
"There is only a bit of dispute within the party, not much. Only one person is responsible for this. But that will be resolved soon," he added.
Ram Gopal Yadav who also met the Election Commission, urged the poll body to expedite the decision on party symbol as nominations for the Uttar Pradesh elections will start soon.
He refused to comment on the remarks made by his cousin Mulayam.
On Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav's uncle and chief aide Ram Gopal Yadav carried to the Election Commission six boxes of documents to prove that the UP chief minister now heads the state's ruling party, having been named party president in place of his father at a meeting attended by most Samajwadi Party MLAs, other leaders and about 5,000 workers on January 1.
He claimed that the papers number over 1.5 lakh pages and carry signatures of over 200 MLAs, 56 of the 68 MLCs, 15 of the 24 MPs and nearly 4600 of over 5000 delegates of Samajwadi Party supporting Akhilesh.
Earlier on Sunday, Mulayam Singh reasserted his claim on the party symbol and said he, not his son, is the party president and there’s no dispute in Uttar Pradesh’s ruling political outfit.
“I am the national president of SP and Akhilesh is the chief minister of UP,” he told reporters at his home in the national capital.
The 77-year-old socialist veteran, who formed the SP in 1992, is in the middle of an intense power struggle with him and brother Shivpal Yadav on one side, while son Akhilesh Yadav and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav on the other.
