Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav's made headlines on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament with his barbs against the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 by the Narendra Modi government.
Taking a dig against Modi he said, "If you go to villages today to ask for votes, women will pick up their belans (rolling pins) beat him."
Nothing should have seemed odd about that, except for the fact that Yadav had been expelled from the Samajwadi Party for six years in October, amid a very public family feud over the party leadership, but was still present in the Upper House of Parliament.
However, the very next day, Ram Gopal was reinstated. This was announced on Thursday morning.
After being reinstated Ram Gopal said:
Earlier in the day questions were raised about how Ram Gopal Yadav had represented the party on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday despite having been sacked.
The Indian Express reported that the Rajya Sabha secretariat confirmed that they had received no communication from the party about a new floor leader.
Surprisingly, Yadav sat on his usual seat and even mentioned Mulayam Singh Yadav during his speech. He had been expelled on allegations of conspiring with the BJP.
Samajwadi Party sources told The Economic Times that while the party's parliamentary board meeting in Lucknow, chaired by Mulayam, discussed the party's stand on demonetisation, and that they did not discuss anything about a new floor leader in Rajya Sabha.
On Wednesday, Yadav had asked the Modi government to reconsider its decision on demonetisation saying, "So many people have died in the last few days. I appeal to the BJP to look at the lines in front of banks in villages."
"This did not happen even during the emergency. The common man has become a beggar," he said.
"The common man has become a beggar."Ram Gopal Yadav, SP leader
Yadav's expulsion was a fall out of the SP's factional fight ahead of the upcoming state elections in Uttar Pradesh. While 'netaji' Mulayam had put his weight behind Amar Singh and Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh was seen as close to Yadav.
After Yadav was sacked, his cousin Shivpal had told the media, "Ram Gopal is involved with the BJP, he met BJP leaders thrice in the last few days. He is doing such things because his son Akshay Yadav and daughter-in-law are involved in a scam. To protect himself and his son they are planning conspiracy as per the direction of BJP."
Shivpal had also said that Akhilesh was not aware of who was with him and who was not. "They have created a group of goons, who trouble the people and create every kind of nuisance in the state. Ram Gopal has always misused the name of Netaji. We had raised this issue at various party forums," Shivpal had alleged.
Shivpal, who was also sacked from the party, alleged that it was because of Ram Gopal's conspiracy with the BJP.
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