In what may give the opposition parties fresh ammunition to tear into the ruling Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in an unexpected move on Sunday sacked four ministers including his uncle Shivpal Yadav from the Cabinet.
Narad Rai, Saiyyada Shadab Fatima and O.P. Singh are the other three leaders, who have been shown the door by the Chief Minister post the meeting called by him today.
Barabanki MLC Rajesh Yadav, who attended today's meeting, lashed out at party leader Amar Singh for attempting to create friction in the Samajwadi Party.
"The party belongs to Netaji. He assigned the Chief Minister's job to Akhilesh Yadav, who managed it extremely well. He looked at both the party and family in a very efficient manner. Our fight is against those trying to create friction in the party and the one person who is doing this is Amar Singh," he told the media.
Mainpuri MLA Raju Yadav echoing similar sentiments said the Chief Minister very categorically stated in the meeting that whoever is close to Amar Singh cannot be in his Cabinet.
This came as a section of the Samajwadi Party leaders had earlier reportedly alleged that Amar Singh after coming back to the party was misinforming Mulayam Singh Yadav about the people and misleading him.
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They also reportedly alleged that Amar Singh was making desperate attempts to portray Akhilesh as weak and prevent the Samajwadi Party from coming back to power.
The Chief Minister's action comes hours after Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav wrote a letter to party leaders to rally behind the former, thereby adding a major twist to the entire family tussle.
Akhilesh had prior to today's meeting to discuss the power struggle within the party met his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Reports suggest that the conversation between the father and son duo mostly revolved around Ram Gopal Yadav's letter to the party workers asking them to stand behind his nephew.
In his one-page letter, Ram Gopal stated that the Samajwadi Party would yet again form the government in Uttar Pradesh under Akhilesh's leadership.
He asked the party workers to remain alert and positive and not get swayed by all the 'negativities' surrounding the party.
Ram Gopal also said that there are some people within the party who are misleading the public ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.
He said that those behind his nephew were those who sacrificed their life and blood for the party while others were misusing their position for ulterior motives.
Warning the Chief Minister's critics, Ram Gopal further said that they would be expelled if they do not follow the party high command's order.
Today's decision also comes just days after suspended Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Member (MLC) Udayveer Singh had accused Mulayam's second wife Sadhna Gupta and uncle Shivpal of colluding together against Akhilesh.