Lucknow: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday said, he had founded the party when his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was only two-years-old, and that he would not let his party split at any cost.
“I founded Samajwadi Party during Emergency days when Akhilesh Yadav was two years old, I faced several hardships to build SP, will not let it split. I have declared that he (Akhilesh Yadav) will be CM, what more do I have?,” Mulayam Singh Yadav said, flanked by brother Shivpal Yadav at his party headquarters in Lucknow.
Mulayam urged his party workers to work with unity and bear with the rough times the party was going through due to the bickering factions. He also asserted that he had no plans of forming a new party or changing the symbol.
“We are neither making a party nor are we going to change the symbol, it’s them (the faction led by Akhilesh) who are making a new party. I have told them to not get into such disputes and have also conveyed to them that we want a united Samajwadi Party,” Mulayam said.
Mulayam also hit out at Ramgopal Yadav and accused him of causing the rift in the party. His statements come just a day after Akhilesh met him at his residence, sending signals of a rapprochement between the bickering factions in the ruling party.
In the meeting, Mulayam asked Akhilesh to withdraw his letter to the Election Commission (EC) claiming support of 212 out of 229 SP MLAs. In turn, the SP supremo assured Akhilesh that he would remain CM if SP won the upcoming Assembly polls.
However, Mulayam maintained that he would remain the SP chief.
