Samajwadi Party feud: Truce imminent? Akhilesh meets Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow

Lucknow: Amid the tug of war between the father and son, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday met Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow.
The big development comes after both Mulayam camp and Akhilesh camp staked claim for SP election symbol cycle at the Election Commission in the national capital.
Accompanied by his brother Shivpal Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and actress-turned politician Jaya Prada, Mulayam Singh met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi in the national capital to stake claim on ‘cycle’.
Akhilesh had earlier given signals of him being ready for patch up with his father.
UP CM’s camp today met Zaidi to stake claim on the Samajwadi Party’s election symbol ‘cycle’.
The ruling SP in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday split down the middle with the faction headed by Akhilesh removing Mulayam Singh Yadav as party chief and appointing him in his place at a convention in which the group claimed support of the majority of legislators and district units.
On a day of face paced developments, the two sides engaged in mutual recriminatory expulsions with the convention called by Ram Gopal Yadav removing Akhilesh’s warring uncle Shivpal Yadav as state party chief, and showing the door to “outsider” Amar Singh, who has been blamed for the feud in the Yadav clan.
Mualyam retorted by again expelling his cousin Ram Gopal for six years along with national vice president Kiranmoy Nanda, who chaired the convention, and general secretary Naresh Agarwal for taking part in it.
43-year-old Akhilesh was “unanimously” crowned the SP president as Ram Gopal moved a proposal to make Mulayam, the founder president of SP, the party patron at the convention, where the CM’s faction claimed that over 200 of the party’s 229 MLAs, around 30 MLCs, besides majority of office bearers of district units were present.
The Akhilesh camp also named a new state unit chief in place of Shivpal Yadav and sacked Amar Singh, who the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has repeatedly dubbed a “dalal”.
The open rebellion prompted Mulayam Singh to again sack Ram Gopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party. Both Ram Gopal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav had been sacked on Friday too but were taken back a day later.
Earlier on Saturday, Azam Khan had played a peacemaker between warring Mulayam and Akhilesh.
Mulayam had expelled his son Akhilesh and Ramgopal from SP for six years on Friday.
Senior SP leader and UP cabinet minister Azam Khan on Saturday had brokered peace between the warring father and son.
Thereafter, the Samajwadi Party chief revoked the expulsion of CM Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Ram Gopal.