Samajwadi Party split wide open: Little chance of a compromise, says Ram Gopal Yadav

The factional feud in the SP came out in the open after Mulayam released a list of 325 candidates.

New Delhi/Lucknow: In the biggest yet hint of a split in the Samajwadi Party, senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Friday, said that there is little chance of rapprochement among the warring sections of the party. 

Ram Gopal, who is from the Akhilesh camp, said, “Netaji (Mulayam) is being given wrong advice to take ill-thought decisions. It seems that there can be no agreement now.”

The Rajya Sabha MP, who is Mulayam Singh Yadav's cousin, was referring to the party patriarch decision to release a list of party candidates for the upcoming assembly elections without taking the CM into confidence.

“When everything was working fine and when everyone was saying that Akhilesh will return as Chief Minister, on the basis of his good work, Netaji removed him as party's state president on the advice of one man,” Yadav said.

Extending his full support to the CM, Ram Gopal Yadav said, “I will always be with Akhilesh, those who are his opponents are also my opponent.”

Talking to reporters, he further said that the people of Uttar Pradesh are behind Akhilesh and those who don't stand by him will face defeat in the polls.

Asked about his view on what will happen next in the intense tussle going on within the party, he said, “Wait and watch.”

“I am not an astrologer but I am hopeful that Akhilesh's people will contest the poll on Samajwadi Party's symbol cycle,” he added.

Ram Gopal's comments amid strong indications that the party may be headed for a vertical split.

Meanwhile, Mulayam has called a meeting of the 325 candidates announced by him as party's candidates. The meeting, to be held tomorrow, at the party office in Lucknow may be countered by a parallel meeting of those given tickets by Akhilesh.

On the assertion by some sections within the party that Akhilesh must fall in line as Samajwadi Party is Mulayam's party, Ram Gopal said that while it's undeniable that Netaji formed the party but, given the changing times, Akhilesh can take it forward, and not in the reverse direction as being tried by some people.

The factional feud in the Samajwadi Party came out in the open again after Mulayam declared candidates for 325 of the 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and ruled out projecting Akhilesh as the Chief Ministerial candidate.