Akhilesh not ‘undisputed’ CM face, says Mulayam

In a statement, which could further embarrass an already embittered Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday said that his son was not the natural choice for CM if the party returned to power. “Kise kahan baithana hai, hum khud tai karenge (I will decide whom to place where),” Mulayam Singh said talking to reporters in Lucknow. “The Chief ministerial candidate will be decided by the elected party legislators and parliamentary board. This is our job. This is not your (media) work,” he told reporters when asked whether his son Akhilesh Yadav was still the SP’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections.

The remarks come as another setback to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was recently removed from  the party state president’s post owing to an apparent feud in the first family of the state. The rival faction also contests the ‘undisputed’ position of Akhilesh as the Chief Ministerial candidate of Uttar Pradesh.

Mulayam, however, parried questions on Akhilesh making Janeshwar Mishra Trust office as ‘war room’ ahead of the state polls and his departure before the SP chief’s arrival at the Lohia death anniversary programme. “There is no dispute in the family. Shivpal had met him (Akhilesh) this morning. In the last elections, votes were sought in my name but I made him (Akhilesh) the state’s CM,” he said.

The family feud came to the fore after the merger of Quami Ekta Dal was cancelled at Akhilesh’s behest, then he ( Akhilesh) lost the party state chief’s post to his uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Akhilesh’s supporters, including some MLCs and presidents of the party frontal organisations, led protests against his removal but had to back off after Mulayam’s intervention. The supporters were later expelled by newly appointed state party chief Shivpal from the party.