Mulayam made mentor, Amar Singh expelled from party

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh on Sunday expelled his cousin, general secretary Ramgopal Yadav for the “illegal” act of making Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav the new “national president”.

This was Mr. Ramgopal’s second expulsion in three days, and his third in the last three months.

Mr. Ramgopal had earlier in the day gone against the diktat of the supremo and convened a special “emergency national convention” of the SP, where several proposals and decisions were announced by him in the presence of a few thousand party workers. Mr. Mulayam termed the meet “unconstitutional” and dismissed the proposals and decisions passed there as “illegal.”

Later in the day, Mr. Ramgopal’s expulsion was approved by the SP’s central parliamentary board meeting at Mr. Mulayam’s residence, which was attended by Shivpal Yadav, state president. In a letter issued after the meeting, signed by Mr. Mulayam, the board blamed Mr. Ramgopal for “conspiring” to harm the SP. It, however, did not refer to Mr. Akhilesh.

Though Mr. Ramgopal was not directly named, the board accused him of “constantly insulting” Mr. Mulayam and trying to help the BJP to allegedly escape from the CBI.

Mr. Ramgopal’s family has been embroiled in controversy over the corruption case against Noida engineer Yadav Singh, who is being probed by the CBI. Mr. Shivpal had even accused him of trying to fracture the SP as part of his ‘deal’ with the BJP. Mr. Mulayam has convened a fresh national convention on January 5. Hours before the convention called by Mr. Ramgopal commenced at the Jnaneshwar Mishra Park, Mr. Mulayam issued a warning to party members against attending the programme, asserting it was in “total violation of the party constitution and discipline and organised with the intention of harming” the party.

Despite this, the Akhilesh camp went ahead with the meet, where some “major decisions” were “unanimously passed”.

While Mr. Akhilesh was declared the new party president at the convention, his father was relegated to the nominal post of a margdarshak or a guiding mentor. The meet also “displaced” Mr. Shivpal, Mr. Akhilesh’s bête noire, from his party post, and “expelled” Amar Singh, Mr. Mulayam’s aide who has been held responsible by the Akhilesh camp for the internal feud.

Later, Mr. Akhilesh tweeted justifying his decision. “Sometimes to protect the ones you love you must make the right decision. What I did today was a tough decision but one that I had to take.”