Shivpal vs Ramgopal: The long-running Yadav family saga

Shivpal vs Ramgopal, On Tuesday, when Ramgopal met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. His focus was not on the SP of his party, but on the sharpest attack on Shivpal.

They may both be out from the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav. But it hasn’t brought cousins (Brother) Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav closer together. 

Ramgopal met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday. His focus was not on the SP of his party, but on the sharpest attack on Shivpal. 

The leader of the PSP (Progressive Samajwadi Party), who was appointed as an MLA on a Samajwadi Party ticket, ask query Ramgopal’s conference with the Chief Minister, apparently seeking help for the family of a former MLA and his younger brother, which is related to Ramgopal and facing police action.

Joined by the Samajwadi Party since the formation of the party by Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ramgopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav have careworn relations for some time now. 

 Mulayam made an arrangement to keep the peace between the two. As part of this was his son like Mitti, Bhai Shivpal, his trusted figure in Uttar Pradesh. He looked after the organizational affairs of the party in the state. 

Mulayam’s cousin Ram Gopal was the face of SP in Delhi and on national forums. 

This balance changed when the rise of Akhilesh Yadav created friction between son and father in the party. It happened around 2016, during the time Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister. 

Ramgopal Yadav sided with Akhilesh Yadav, becoming the first senior Samajwadi Party leader to come out in his support. Mulayam Singh Yadav removed him from the post of UP party chief. And appointed Shivpal in his place in September 2016.

Ramgopal vs Shivpal

Over the next few months, there were expulsions and counter-expulsions from both sides. And the family struggle for power played out in the open. Ramgopal supported Akhilesh’s charge that “outsiders” were interfering in the party’s affairs, and said Mulayam was being “misled”. 

Akhilesh responded to Shivpal’s appointment as the state unit chief by removing him from key ministerial portfolios. 

In return, Shivpal expelled Ramgopal’s nephew MLC Arvind Pratap Yadav from the party on charges of indiscipline. A few more weeks later, Akhilesh Yadav fired Chacha Shivpal Yadav and three ministers close to him from the cabinet. 

After that Mulayam threw out Ramgopal from the party for six years. Shivpal accused Ramgopal of trying to divide the party “at the behest of the BJP”, at a press conference, and said this time that Akhilesh was “misled” because he was not seeing that “conspiracy”.

In November 2016, Mulayam Singh Yadav reinstated Ramgopal in the party, but a month later, on 30 December, Akhilesh Yadav, expelled him again for six years for “gross indiscipline”. 

A list of 235 candidates was released by Akhilesh for the 2017 assembly elections, many of which were not included in the list released by Mulayam a day earlier.

The expulsion of Ramgopal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav

It was canceled by Shivpal. On January 1, 2017, Ramgopal called a special session of the SP in Lucknow. He announced Akhilesh as the new national president of the party. 

Along with this, he passed a resolution saying that Shivpal should be removed from the post of UP chief. 

In the ongoing drama, another twist came hours later, when Mulayam called an emergency meeting of the party’s Central Parliamentary Board, attended only by Mulayam and Shivpal, where it was decided that the special conference called by Ramgopal was unconstitutional. 

After that, matters more or less calmed down, Akhilesh retained the leadership of the party, Ramgopal was promoted as principal general secretary, and Shivpal dropped out to form the PSP. 

While Ramgopal is still considered close to Akhilesh and is, therefore, the second most powerful figure in the SP organization, his role is minor. 

Ramgopal was absent from the picture during the recent assembly elections, which Akhilesh used to run virtually as a one-man show.