Lucknow:
Unhappy with the list released by his father and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday released a parallel list of 235 candidates for the Assembly elections.
Though the 235 candidates list of Akhilesh was not issued officially and it was put in the public domain through social media, but the act has put the future of the Samajwadi Party in the stake.
Of the candidates list issued by the CM, 171 are sitting SP legislators and rest 64 are other nominees.
Yesterday, Mulayam had issued a list of 325 candidates with denying tickets to several close associates of Akhilesh including three of his ministers.
In the CM list there are several seats which have the same candidate in both lists but all the three ministers who were not given ticket by Mulayam were made candidates in CM list.
Akhilesh has fielded 171 MLAs besides giving ticket to 64 new candidates.
In the evening, SP state president Shivpal was summoned by Mulayam at his residence. Other senior leaders, too, arrived at Mulayam’s residence.
Unhappy with the list released by his father and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday, the Chief Minister held a meeting with his loyalists, including MLAs, who have been denied tickets. Afterwards, SP MLA Indal Singh said, “Akhilesh is likely to announce his own list of candidates.”
These candidates were likely to contest on a separate symbol, other than SP’s ‘Cycle’ symbol, paving the way for a wide split in the party grappling with dissensions and unprecedented feud at a time when the crucial polls were knocking at the door.
Today’s showdown, the worst in the last few months, reached a flashpoint after Mulayam publicly snubbed his son by announcing a list of candidates that created bitterness in the pro-CM camp, prompting the upset chief minister to take up the matter with the SP supremo to convey his strong displeasure over the choice of names.
“The Chief Minister called us. He instructed us to go to our respective constituencies and prepare for the elections,” Indal Singh, SP MLAs from Malihabad, said after Akhilesh today met legislators denied ticket.
On a day of hectic political developments, Akhilesh met the disgruntled MLAs at his 5-Kalidas Marg residence in the morning and drove straight to Mulayam’s residence to convey the belligerent mood of those who did not get re-nomination.
Akhilesh was again closetted with his confidants soon afterwards to decide the next course of action, while Mulayam summoned Shivpal to gauge the mood of rebels.
“We will go to our constituencies, work hard, and again make Akhilesh our CM,” said another MLA, Pawan Pandey, whose ticket was cut. Pandey, although expelled from SP, continues to be a minister in the Akhilesh government.
“We will contest the upcoming elections, come what may,” said a defiant MLA Atul Pradhan.
“The Chief Minister has done a lot for the development of the state and we will contest and win in his name,” he said.
In a new twist to the day-long high drama, Mulayam’s cousin and SP general secretary Ramgopal Yadav said many in the party do not want to see Akhilesh as chief minister again.