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Samajwadi Party Will Contest Polls Based On Akhilesh's List, Says Ram Gopal Yadav

"The list released by Akhilesh is our list."
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

LUCKNOW -- Samajwadi Party (SP) National General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who belongs to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's camp, on Friday said chances of a compromise between the two warring camps of the party are dim.

The Samajwadi Party camps currently engaged in a battle of political one-upmanship are led by Akhilesh and his father and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is backed by Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Shivpal Yadav said on Friday that Mulayam has summoned all 393 party candidates announced for the 2017 assembly polls for a meeting on 31 December.

Ram Gopal said he would stay with Akhilesh, who is his nephew, and campaign for candidates announced by the Chief Minister if the situation so warranted. The SP leader said the list of 235 candidates released by the Chief Minister was the 'real one'.

"The list released by Akhilesh is our list. The contestants will be fielded according to this. Further will be decided within two-three days," Yadav said.

He also expressed his hope on Akhilesh and said the Samajwadi Party will achieve new heights under his leadership.

"It is definitely Netaji's party, but once Akhilesh takes reign, he will take the party forward much more than Netaji did. However there are some people who want to take the party backward and unfortunately these are the people who are with Netaji," Yadav added.

Asked which camp -- in case of a split in the Samajwadi Party -- will get the election symbol 'Cycle', the Rajya Sabha member said the Election Commission will decide that.

Without taking names, Ram Gopal Yadav targeted Shivpal, who is a state minister and the SP's Uttar Pradesh unit chief, and said there were some jealous people poisoning the mind of Mulayam Singh Yadav and influencing his decisions.

Ram Gopal wrote open letters to the SP supremo to question his decisions a few months ago, and was thrown out of the ruling party for six years. He returned to the party fold weeks later, a day after he broke down at a presser, claiming humiliation by the party.

On Thursday, Akhilesh released a list of 235 candidates out of a total of 403 seats for the upcoming state assembly elections, a day after his father and party supremo had released the official list, hinting at a deepening crisis within the party.

Intense political activities continued at the Samajwadi Party headquarters and at the official residence of the chief minister on Thursday.

Akhilesh met Mulayam Singh, but as per sources, the party chief refused to make changes in the list of 325 candidates issued by him on Wednesday.

According to reports, Akhilesh has removed the name of his sister-in-law Aparna Yadav from the list of candidates that will contest next year's state assembly polls.

She was earlier given a ticket by Mulayam Singh Yadav to contest from the Lucknow Cantt seat.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.