End of MSY era will mark an end to mine too: SP strongman Veerpal

Bareilly: With rising support for Akhilesh Yadav across the ranks of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam loyalists have been losing hope and Bareilly district president, party strongman Veerpal Singh Yadav seems to be falling in line. Reacting to claims in a section of the media that the present political churning will mark an end to his more than two-decade long political career, Veerpal conceded it was very likely but also asserted that he would be in a better position to comment on the development after the dust around the present crisis settled down in a few days.
“End of Mulayam’s era will mark an end to my era too. Netaji’s stature can’t be cut short and likewise my legacy will continue to live on,” said Veerpal.
Refraining from directly commenting on the ongoing fiasco and the consistent attack of Akhilesh loyalists, the district unit president said, “The party still stands by me. Workers and office-bearers in the organization still support me. Those training their guns at me now never supported me so somehow I am not surprised by the scathing attacks.”
Veerpal has always maintained that he would step down from the party’s top post in the region if ordered to do. Speculation is rife that a change of guard in the party would see many Mulayam-Shivpal loyalists getting cornered and Veerpal would be one of them.
At present, Veerpal is keeping himself occupied with intensive campaigning in his assembly constituency, Bithri Chainpur, from where he was nominated earlier. The party office near Ayub Khan crossing, which was till recently buzzing with activity wore a deserted look when TOI visited it on Monday. None of the office-bearers were present for any form of interaction, clearly indicating that the political churning in the party has hit the morale of the supporters who were till recently brimming with confidence in the aftermath of the mega rally on December 8 attended by both Mulayam and Shivpal.
The present district working committee of the party is dominated by Veerpal loyalists, which was a big catalyst in the burgeoning rebellion against the party leader. The ticket distribution only added fuel to the fire when many disgruntled aspirants openly accused Veerpal of exploiting his position.
Though any decision on cracking the whip on Mulayam loyalists is yet to be taken, Akhilesh loyalists have not wasted any time to write off Veerpal and company who had a stronghold in the region for more than two decades and ran the show for the party.