Mulayam defends Amar, Shivpal; Samajwadi Party meet ends in acrimony

Mulayam made it clear that Akhilesh Yadav will remain in the party. The SP supremo said the party was facing a difficult situation and party members should not fight with each other but his words had little effect as chaos broke out at the venue and heated words were exchanged on the dais leading to an abrupt end of the meeting.

The crisis in the ruling party seems to have worsened with Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav shouting at each other at the meeting.

Fresh clashes broke out outside the venue with supporters of rival sides exchanging blows, giving police a tough time. At a meeting of party legislators, MPs and ministers, which ended abruptly, Mulayam said, "I can't tolerate anything against Amar and Shivpal. Amar saved me from going to jail".

Mulayam said mere donning of red cap (colour of SP's cap) does not make one Samajwadi. Admonishing Akhilesh, the party supremo said he had been abusing Amar Singh.

"Amar has helped me a lot. If Amar was not there I would have been in jail, he is like my brother," Mulayam said, describing the Rajya Sabha member as his brother.

"Some ministers are just sycophants," he added. "I cannot forget the work done by Shivpal Yadav," he said while describing Shivpal as a mass leader.

"We are facing difficult situation, we should remove our weakness and not fight with each other," Mulayam said.