Akhilesh Yadav re-elected as Samajwadi Party chief for 5 years, uncle Shivpal blessed him in advance
Akhilesh, 44, will lead the Samajwadi Party during the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 and the state Assembly election scheduled in 2022.
In Short
- Akhilesh Yadav re-elected as Samajwadi Party national president
- The party will fight Lok Sabha elections in 2019 under Akhilesh
- Akhilesh's father Mulayam, uncle Shivpal skipped the meet
Much along the expected lines, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was today unanimously chosen as the party's national president for a five-year term.
It was Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Ram Gopal Yadav who made the announcement at the Samajwadi Party's convention in Agra today.
Akhilesh, 44, will lead the party during the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 and the state Assembly election scheduled in 2022.
Earlier, the Samajwadi Party chief had a tenure of three years but the party constitution was amended to extend it to five years.
A day before his re-election as the Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh's estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav had called and congratulated him. "I got the benefit of my age and our relation. He gave me blessings and congratulated me," said Akhilesh.
The Samajwadi Party was engaged in a bitter family battle between father Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.
Akhilesh Yadav had convened the party's national convention and removed father Mulayam as Samajwadi Party president after the latter expelled him and uncle Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years due to alleged indiscipline.
The fissures in the father-son relationship, however, remain as Mulayam Singh was conspicuously missing from the scene before the key party convention despite Akhilesh personally inviting him for the meet. The Samajwadi Party patriarch and brother Shivpal had earlier skipped the party's state executive meeting in Lucknow on September 23.
While Akhilesh Yadav has maintained that he enjoys his father Mulayam's blessings, the latter had recently put a lid to speculations on forming a separate political party with brother Shivpal.
At a press conference ahead of his re-elected as Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh Yadav said the party's alliance with the Congress will continue. "Our friendship will remain," Akhilesh said despite the alliance's poor show in the Assembly election earlier this year.
ALSO WATCH: No new party as of now, says Mulayam Singh Yadav