With Akhilesh in control, expelled loyalists brought back into party fold

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday revoked the expulsion of nine Akhilesh Yadav loyalists, who were ejected from the party by former state unit president Shivpal Yadav for alleged indiscipline.

The order was issued by SP’s state chief Naresh Uttam, who also reinstated the presidents of various wings of the party ousted by Shivpal, with the approval of SP national president and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh.

The MLCs whose expulsion has been revoked include Arvind Pratap Singh, Udaiver Singh Yadav, Sunil Singh Sajan, Anand Bhadauria and Sanjay Lathar.

Geeta Singh and Anand Aggarwal have been appointed the state president of Samajwadi Mahila Sabha and Samajwadi Vyapar Sabha, respectively.

Not only these Akhilesh loyalists were branded ‘updravis’ (hooligans) by Shivpal, but their entry was banned in the SP headquarters and they were not allowed to attend the party’s silver jubilee celebrations on November 5 last year.

But with Akhilesh now firmly in command of the party and the distribution of tickets to candidates, the six-month-long bitter tussle for control of the party finally seems to have come to an end.

Read: Akhilesh looks to win over Mulayam as Congress, Samajwadi Party seal alliance deal

Neither Shivpal nor Mulayam have uttered a word against Akhilesh after Election Commission of India acknowledged the latter as the rightful national president of the party and its symbol.

And as if to convey the message that all was well in the Yadav family, Shivpal’s son Aditya tweeted a photo of Mulayam, Akhilesh and Shivpal on Wednesday, saying, “We all must come together to contribute for speedy and overall development of UP.”

Read: Lalu Prasad to campaign for Akhilesh to ensure victory of socialist forces