LUCKNOW: An emergency convention of the Samajwadi Party on Sunday unanimously anointed UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as the new national president of the Samajwadi party, unseating Mulayam Singh Yadav. While Mulayam loses his official post, the emergency convention also agreed to regard MSY as the senior most leader of the SP.

The convention, chaired by Ram Gopal Yadav, also moved a proposal to sack, with immediate effect, Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh from primary membership of the party, and remove Shivpal Yadav as state president of SP. All proposals moved by the rebel SP group met with loud cheers from the large gathering of supporters and were approved by a show of hands.

Ram Gopal Yadav said, “The emergency convention appoints Akhilesh Yadav as national president of the Samajwadi Party with immediate effect. The Election Commission will be informed about the decision, immediately.” The senior SP leader also said that the decision to call an emergency national convention was necessitated by “unconstitutional” decision taken by state president Shivpal Yadav, without taking Mulayam Singh Yadav into confidence. “Two people in the party have orchestrated a crisis in the SP. It was as a result that we had to call this convention and take the corrective measure we did,” Ram Gopal said.

Making an emotional pitch to his supporters – many ministers, legislators and party cadres from across the state were in attendance – chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said, “I still respect Netaji as my leader and as my father. However, detractors within the party mislead him and made him take decisions. No matter how much they try, no one can hurt this father-son relationship.”



The party convention lasted 26 minutes and saw SP vice president Kiranmoy Nanda endorse the day’s decisions. Party cadres and block presidents of the SP were also instructed to turn in signatures backing Akhilesh’s appointment as SP national president to show he has the majority support within the party.

Coming in as the new year ‘dhamaka’ that Mulayam Singh Yadav appears to have anticipated, the national convention may now have to pass the litmus test of legality.

Earlier in the day, Mulayam issued a letter declaring the convention “unconstitutional”, had directed supporters to not attend it, and warned of serious consequences for those who participated. Since the letter was issued shortly after the emergency convention was scheduled to start, however, its proceedings remained unaffected. Members of the Shivpal camp, however, said that the original SP camp will challenge the legality of this convention and its ability to pass such resolutions. Akhilesh, with the brute support of over 200 legislators and MLCs of the SP’s 229 members, however, will not find it tough that he has emerged, at long last, as the popular choice of leader for the beleaguered Samajwadi Party.

(Swati Mathur & Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui/ TNN)