Amid consideration of his resignation from the UP cabinet, senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav, who was stripped of essential portfolios by his nephew and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, said giving and taking portfolios is the responsibility of the CM and he will abide by the decision of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“It is the discretion of CM to give (or take) portfolios and remove officers and keep his advisors. I will follow Netaji’s directions and will fulfill responsibilities given by him,” he told reporters when asked about speculation on his resignation.
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Asked about his future course of action, Shivpal said, “I will talk to Netaji. People of the state have full faith in Netaji and the Samajwadi Party”. “I will be going to Lucknow and discuss (with party workers). We will fight elections together,” he said.
Over thousand of followers of Shivpal gathered outside his house in Saifai and the PWD guest house to express solidarity with him as speculation was rife that he might resign.
The Chief Minister had stripped his uncle Shivpal Yadav from all the important ministerial portfolios on Tuesday, hours after his replacement as the party’s state unit chief and appointment of the latter in his place.
Clear differences in the Yadav family came out into the open as the Chief Minister shunted Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal, viewed close to Shivpal, almost two months after his appointment, setting off a chain of developments that saw the SP supremo ousting his son as state party chief and replacing him with Shivpal.
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Moments after Mulayam made his brother, the UP unit head of the ruling party. In an angry response, Akhilesh trimmed his uncle’s wings by stripping him of the plum PWD, irrigation, and cooperative portfolios.
Differences between Akhilesh and Shivpal have been stated on numerous occasions, including The choice of the official’s appointment as the state’s chief secretary after Alok Ranjan’s term ended, and stalling of Qaumi Ekta Dal‘s alliance with SP.
Shivpal was said to be the sheepherder of the merger of QED with the Samajwadi Party.
Singhal was earlier Principal Secretary (Irrigation), a department held by Shivpal. Hours after Singhal was promoted out as the state’s prime bureaucrat, Mulayam’s cousin and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav wrote to Shivpal, “SP President Mulayam Singh Yadav has appointed you as the president of the Uttar Pradesh unit. It is hoped that with your hard work, you will further strengthen the party.”
A copy of the letter was also marked to Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal is now left with land development, water resources, and social welfare departments.
Meanwhile, CM Akhilesh has said that “There may be problems in the government, but not in the family.”