Shivpal Singh’s supporters demand apology from Akhilesh

Lucknow, Sep 16 (IANS) A sense of unease prevailed in the Uttar Pradesh capital on Friday, hours after Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, his son Aditya Yadav and wife Sarla Yadav quit important party posts.

Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has reportedly convened a meeting at the party headquarters here to thrash out a solution on the ongoing power struggle between his son as well as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Shivpal Singh’s supporters camped outside the 7, Kalidas Marg residence of the former minister, raised anti-Akhilesh Yadav slogans demanding that all departments be restored to their leader.

The protesting supporters said Shivpal should be retained as the state president and that he was humiliated by the Chief Minister.

They demanded that Akhilesh should touch Shivpal’s feet as a nephew and say sorry.

Many leaders wept openly and threatened to immolate themselves if their demands were not met.

More than two dozen legislators also met Shivpal Singh Yadav on Friday. Sacked minister Gayatri Prajapati also had a meeting with Shivpal here.

While Shivpal quit both party post as well as the state cabinet’s, his wife Sarla stepped down as chairperson of the Etawah Cooperative Bank, and son Aditya resigned as Chairman of PCF (Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation Ltd.) on Thursday.

The developments were seen as a family feud, as majority of the Yadav clan felt Akhilesh had not only humiliated his uncle and the former PWD minister by stripping him of important portfolios, but also viewed it as a direct challenge to the family patriarch — the SP chief.