SP calls off merger with Quami Ekta Dal

Lucknow, June 25

UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav managed to prevail upon party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and made him agree to undo the merger of don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Dal with the Samajwadi Party.

With the cancellation of the June 21 merger, Cabinet minister Balram Yadav — sacked for facilitating the unification — has also been reinstated.

These decisions were taken during the Samajwadi Party parliamentary board meeting which lasted well over two hours. CM Akhilesh Yadav reportedly refused to relent to party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s decision of allowing the merger to prevail.

Briefing the media after the meeting, party general secretary Ramgopal Yadav listed the major decisions. Besides undoing the merger and reinstating Balram Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav would soon launch a Samajwadi Vikas Rath Yatra to highlight the achievements of his government. — TNS