Samajwadi Party feud worsens: Akhilesh Yadav to embark on 'Vikas Rath Yatra' alone; might skip party's silver jubilee celebrations

A section of youth leaders of the Samajwadi Party has revolted against party chief, saying they would boycott the silver jubilee celebrations of the party on November 5.

Lucknow: The Yadav split is again out in the open. The rift between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday reached new heights.

In a major development, Akhilesh Yadav today shot a letter to his father and party chief Mulayam saying, he has decided to go ahead with 'Samajwadi Vikas Rath Yatra' from November 03, 2016, which was earlier scheduled to begin from October 03, 2016.

Interestingly, the letter has been also addressed to UP Cabinet Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav.

Giving justification to go ahead with the 'yatra', the Chief Minister said, political parties have started their political campaign for the 2017 UP Assembly elections, but SP which had decided to launch its campaign from October 03, had to delay it due to some reasons. Thus, in order to form the next government in the crucial state, I have decided to launch the programme on November 03.

However, it's not clear, whether Akhilesh would boycott the silver jubilee celebrations of Samajwadi Party on November 5 in the state capital.

The development comes at a time when efforts are reportedly underway for a patch-up between Mulayam-Shivpal and Akhilesh Yadav.

Earlier in the day, Akhilesh, Shivpal Yadav, and Mulayam held a closed-door meeting at party supremo's 5 Vikramaditya Marg residence to discuss poll strategy.

According to party sources, Akhilesh is adamant on his demands of revoking the expulsion of youth leaders, some of whom are MLCs, and having his say in the ticket distribution.

He had last month hit back over his removal from the party post by stripping Shivpal of his key ministerial portfolios but had to retreat as Mulayam stepped in.

The infighting continues unabated with Mulayam siding with Shivpal and his cousin Ram Gopal throwing his weight behind the the Chief Minister. The distribution of tickets and whether Akhilesh should be projected as CM candidate remain a bone of contention.

Political observers feel that the ongoing power struggle in the ruling party will hamper the Yadav family in the 2017 UP polls.

Meanwhile, a section of youth leaders of the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday virtually revolted against party chief, saying they would boycott the silver jubilee celebrations of the party on November 5.

This group of youth leaders is considered close to Chief Minister.

The youth leaders also alleged that senior leaders, like council member Sunil Singh Yadav, Anand Bhadouria, Arvind Pratap Singh Yadav, Sanjay Lathar, Brijesh Yadav, Mohd Abad and Gaurav Dubey, were expelled from the party on fake complaints.

These leaders were expelled by state party chief Shivpal Singh Yadav last month for allegedly raising slogans and protesting outside the house of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Yadav himself had chided these young leaders, calling them "worthless" and "good for nothing".