No question of joining any other party, never: Ram Gopal Yadav

Acrimony, bitter exchanges and personal attacks marked a meeting of Samajwadi Party leaders on Monday.

Lucknow: Ram Gopal Yadav said on Monday that whatever was happening in Samajwadi Party was very unfortunate.

"No Opposition party has ever levelled any allegations against UP CM but sadly partymen are doing it," he said.

He added, "There is no question of forming a new party. People who have nothing will form new party, Akhilesh has all support," as per ANI.

At the same time, Ram Gopal maintained, "No question of joining any other party, never."

Earlier today, acrimony, bitter exchanges and personal attacks marked a meeting of Samajwadi Party leaders, bringing to the fore the high-voltage power struggle in the first family with Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh trading barbs while the CM was accused of planning to float a party, a charge he denied.

Cut up with his son, Mulayam put up a strong defence of his brother Shivpal Yadav, who was sacked by Akhilesh yesterday from his Cabinet, and general secretary Amar Singh but ruled out replacing the CM, who offered to quit.

The political drama was also punctuated by clashes between rival factions outside and inside the venue and after the abrupt end to the meeting of the legislators, MPs and ministers.

Seeking to put at rest speculation, Akhilesh ruled out forming any new party and offered to step down if Mulayam wanted.

With his father and uncle watching, he broke down while addressing the meeting.

"Let 'netaji' (Mulayam) install a chief minister who he feels is honest," he said.

"Why should I form a new party?" he posed in an emotionally choked voice.

At the meeting Akhilesh said all these years he had toiled hard for the welfare of the people.

"Merey pita, merey guru hain (my father is my guru)" he said, as per PTI.

Akhilesh said many people were trying to create divisions within his family using various machinations and that he had taught himself how to oppose any wrong doing.

Tension was palpable much before the meeting began with youth supporters of Akhilesh mounting pressure on the leadership in support of the CM.

When his turn came, Mulayam said the party was facing a difficult situation and party members should not fight with each other. But his words had little effect as chaos broke out at the venue and heated words were exchanged on the dais leading to an abrupt end of the meeting.

Both the father and son shouted at each other at the meeting.

"I can't tolerate anything against Amar and Shivpal. Amar saved me from going to jail," Mulayam said admonishing Akhilesh for attacking Amar Singh.

"Amar has helped me a lot. If Amar was not there I would have been in jail, he is like my brother," Mulayam said, describing the Rajya Sabha member as his brother.

Mulayam said mere donning of red cap (colour of SP's cap) does not make one Samajwadi.

"Some ministers are just sycophants," he added.

"I cannot forget the work done by Shivpal Yadav," he said while describing Shivpal as a mass leader.

"We are facing difficult situation, we should remove our weakness and not fight with each other," Mulayam said.

In the first open attack on his nephew, Shivpal Yadav claimed the chief minister had told him that he would float a new party to contest the upcoming Assembly polls.

He urged his brother to "take over reins of Uttar Pradesh".

Speaking after Akhilesh's denial, Shivpal said, "Recently, I went to meet the CM. He said he would float a party and ally with some parties."

Daggers drawn with the chief minister over a host of issues, Shivpal said he was ready to vouch for it. "I can swear by Gangajal," he said. 

(With Agency inputs)