New Delhi: With UP election dates coming nearer with each passing day, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav today tried to boost the morals of the party workers saying that the party will remain intact and there is not going to be a division.
In an emotional appeal to party workers, Mulayam said he had sacrificed a lot to build the party and Shiv Pal, who is being opposed by Akhilesh faction, was there through thick and thin.
Mulayam also assured party workers that the party is not going to be divided.
"I had gone to Delhi to save the party from breaking," Mulayam Singh told party workers at his residence here. "What else do I have apart from you people.
"I can understand your concern over the party as it is the result of a lot of hard work," he said.
Adding he said, "Na hum alag party bana rahe hain, na symbol badal rahe hain. (We are not making a new party nor changing our symbol)."
He said the party's other faction led by his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had sought a new name, Akhil Bharatiya Samajwadi Party, and a new election symbol, 'motorcycle'.
"Will you people accept that?" he asked his supporters.
He also indirectly hit out at Ramgopal Yadav for the current tension in the party.
"A few people want to break the party. They went ahead and met the leaders of the opposition parties. And I have every information of that.
"I won't allow the party to break," he added.
Currently, both Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam are claiming to be the party president. Akhilesh, reportedly, wants to hold on to the president post till elections are over. A 90 minute meeting earlier Tuesday morning failed to bring a truce.
As per ET sources, Akhilesh was adamant that he would stay as the SP national president till the end of the assembly elections, the sources said.
Either camp is also not willing to make the first move on withdrawing its petition before the Election Commission for claim on the party name and symbol.
It is believed that Mulayam is insisting on the sidelining of Ram Gopal Yadav while Akhilesh wants Amar Singh and Shivpal not to be associated with the UP elections.
However, there seems to be a realisation in both the camps that party's campaign is suffering as a result of the feud in the party and the family, and that the candidates should be in the constituencies rather than bother about getting a ticket for the polls.
UP will have a seven phase election, with polling on February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, March 4 and 8.
