SP’s youth leaders to boycott party’s silver jubilee celebrations

Lucknow, Oct 18 (IANS) A section of youth leaders of the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday virtually revolted against party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying they would boycott the silver jubilee celebrations of the party on November 5.

This group of youth leaders is considered close to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

In a press release, the group of leaders said that a meeting attended by several young members of the legislative council (MLCs), senior leaders of the Yuvjan Sabha (the student wing) and other wings passed a motion to boycott the celebrations announced last week by the SP chief.

The leaders said that the image of the youth leaders, who fought against the oppressive state government of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is being deliberately tainted by some senior leaders, and under such circumstances, it is not possible for them to be part of the silver jubilee celebrations.

Political observers see this as an open challenge to Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had announced the event himself and asked party leaders, ministers, legislators and members of parliament to come out and work jointly for the success of the function.

The youth leaders also alleged that senior leaders, like council member Sunil Singh Yadav, Anand Bhadouria, Arvind Pratap Singh Yadav, Sanjay Lathar, Brijesh Yadav, Mohd Abad and Gaurav Dubey, were expelled from the party on fake complaints.

These leaders were expelled by state party chief Shivpal Singh Yadav last month for allegedly raising slogans and protesting outside the house of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Yadav himself had chided these young leaders, calling them "worthless" and "good for nothing".

The development comes at a time when efforts are reportedly underway for a patch-up between Mulayam-Shivpal and Akhilesh Yadav. Observers say this could add fuel to the fire as situations like open declaration of boycott of official party functions was unheard of in the ruling party.

"This does not augur well for the party and the situation seems to be only worsening," said a leader.

Meanwhile, a young MLC, who attended Tuesday's meeting that passed the resolution to boycott the silver jubilee celebrations, tried to play down the issue and told IANS that they are "seeking justice against the expulsion of senior youth leaders and trying to exert pressure".