SP Chief Mulayam has withdrawn his decision to expel Akhilesh and others. Now Akhilesh continues as CM. The issue has been resolved for the time being.
Earlier Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has been expelled from the Samajwadi Party for six years by his father and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mulayam Singh had earlier issued a show cause notice asking his son why disciplinary action should not be taken against him after he released a parallel list of candidates for the Uttar Pradesh elections, which includes several party leaders who are close to him and who did not make it to the official list released by his father a day before. The Akhilesh camp had responded with more defiance, with his uncle and staunch supporter Ram Gopal Yadav calling an emergency party meeting on Sunday.
The official Samajwadi Party list has on it several people backed by Shivpal and whose candidacy has been fiercely opposed by Akhilesh Yadav, including a gangster-turned-politician who faces 44 serious criminal charges.
Mulayam Singh Yadav has also repeatedly said no one will be projected as the party’s presumptive Chief Minister, which is unacceptable to Akhilesh Yadav’s supporters, who say the young Chief Minister is the party’s face.
The Samajwadi Party’s internal strife gives an added advantage to the BJP and Mayawati’s BSP in the mega battle for Uttar Pradesh, being pegged as the semi-final before national elections in 2019. Elections to UP’s 403 assembly seats are expected to be announced by the Election Commission any day now.
