UP CM Akhilesh Yadav sacks uncle Shivpal Yadav as Samajwadi Party feud rears head again

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav sacked his uncle Shivpal Yadav from Uttar Pradesh Cabinet for the second time on 23 October, further fueling the ongoing family feud.

Reportedly, three other ministers, Narad Rai, Saiyyada Shadab Fatima and O.P. Singh have also been removed.

According to the ABP news, Akhilesh Yadav said that he is the only heir of Netaji.

"I'm the only heritor of Netaji and now it is up to him to decide what to do next", the channel quoted the chief minister as saying.

The decision to remove the four ministers was reportedly taken in the meeting summoned by Akhilesh on Sunday at his residence. Mainpuri MLA Raju Yadav told reportes that Akhilesh Yadav said in the meeting 'anyone close to Amar Singh cannot be in my cabinet'.

Also Read: Samajwadi Party has been 'looting' UP, will split any day now: BJP on Akhilesh - Shivpal tiff

Barabanki MLC Rajesh Yadav, who attended today's meeting, lashed out at party leader Amar Singh for attempting to create friction in the Samajwadi Party.

"The party belongs to Netaji. He assigned the Chief Minister's job to Akhilesh Yadav, who managed it extremely well. He looked at both the party and family in a very efficient manner. Our fight is against those trying to create friction in the party and the one person who is doing this is Amar Singh," he told the media.

Mainpuri MLA Raju Yadav echoing similar sentiments said the Chief Minister very categorically stated in the meeting that whoever is close to Amar Singh cannot be in his Cabinet.

This came as a section of the Samajwadi Party leaders had earlier reportedly alleged that Amar Singh after coming back to the party was misinforming Mulayam Singh Yadav about the people and misleading him.

They also reportedly alleged that Amar Singh was making desperate attempts to portray Akhilesh as weak and prevent the Samajwadi Party from coming back to power.

The Chief Minister's action comes hours after Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav wrote a letter to party leaders to rally behind the former, thereby adding a major twist to the entire family tussle.

Also Read:Yadav family feud won't cause Samajwadi Party split, knew Amar Singh would hurt party: Azam Khan

Akhilesh met his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav prior to today's meeting.

Reports suggest that the conversation between the father and son mostly revolved around Ram Gopal Yadav's letter to the party workers asking them to stand behind his nephew.

In his one-page letter, Ram Gopal stated that the Samajwadi Party would yet again form the government in Uttar Pradesh under Akhilesh's leadership.

He asked the party workers to remain alert and positive and not get swayed by all the 'negativities' surrounding the party.

Ram Gopal also said that there are some people within the party who are misleading the public ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.

He said that those behind his nephew were those who sacrificed their life and blood for the party while others were misusing their position for ulterior motives.

Warning the Chief Minister's critics, Ram Gopal further said that they would be expelled if they do not follow the party high command's order.

Today's decision also comes just days after suspended Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Member (MLC) Udayveer Singh had accused Mulayam's second wife Sadhna Gupta and uncle Shivpal of colluding together against Akhilesh.

-With ANI inputs