Yadav civil war: Akhilesh-Shivpal feud headed for another clash over Assembly election tickets

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Sources said that names of Allahabad mafia Atiq Ahmed and Amarmani Tripathi's son Amanmani Tripathi do not figure in Akhilesh's list. Both were given ticket by Shivpal.

In keeping with his image of a muscleman Atiq was recently involved in the intimidation and assault on Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Science (SHIATS) staff in Allahabad.

He was caught leading his henchmen who assaulted the employees because they had taken disciplinary action against two students. Shivpal expects Atiq to win from Kanpur.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named Amanmani an accused in the murder of his wife Sara and for destroying evidence, but for Shivpal - he would be an asset in the coming elections.

Akhilesh is not on the same page as Mulayam and Shivpal where the alliance with Congress was concerned. Although Mulayam is the one whom Congress and Janata Dal (United) leaders met in this regard. The SP supremo was initially not open to the idea of an alliance.

It's in the family

The ties between chacha-bhateeja (uncle-nephew) started turning sour from 2009 when Mulayam removed Shivpal as state president after the party's poor showing in the state elections and replaced him with his son.

The discord deepened after Mulayam, in tandem with his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav, had Akhilesh appointed chief minister even as Shivpal wanted his brother to take over the reins.

The fact that Shivpal also harboured chief ministerial ambitions was clear when in an outburst he said that while he had worked hard for the party since its inception, Akhilesh had got the position on a platter.

That discontent was simmering between Shivpal and Akhilesh was evident when the former said in Mainpuri that he would resign from the party as bureaucrats were not obeying his orders.

To avoid a split in the party, Mulayam sided with his brother and even admonished his son in public for taking Shivpal lightly.

On 25 June when Shivpal announced the merger of Quami Ekta Dal of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari with the SP, Akhilesh raised a banner of revolt and forced his uncle to annul the decision, though only for a short time.

In a series of developments that followed, Akhilesh sacked Shivpal and others close to him from the cabinet after he was summarily removed as party president. A major showdown followed when at a meeting of legislators and ministers, Shivpal called Akhilesh a liar while trying to snatch the mike from his nephew's hand.

After such a public outburst, in a truce brokered by Mulayam, Akhilesh was supposed to have taken back Shivpal, Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and others in his cabinet. The chief minister did take back Prajapati but not his uncle.

Prajapati, who the CM had said did not listen to him, was not given mining, his original portfolio. Instead, he was made the transport minister.