Lucknow: As the hopes of truce after days of crisis in the warring Samajwadi Party remains grim, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is scheduled to meet the party MLAs on Thursday.
Notably, the faction headed by Akhilesh is on a stronger side, as reports say that out of five Lok Sabha MPs, four are supporting the CM. Also, majority of the Rajya Sabha MPs are also in favour of Akhilesh to take charge of the party.
Akhilesh s faction has also claimed to enjoy the support of 200 of the party's 229 MLAs.
43-year-old Akhilesh was "unanimously" crowned the SP president as Ram Gopal moved a proposal to make Mulayam, the founder president of SP, the party patron at the convention.
The ugly battle has reached a soaring point with both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh approaching the Election Commission to secure the right over SP election symbol "cycle".
While, Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh are supporting Mulayam, senior party leaders like Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agarwal are owing allegiance to Akhilesh.
Hopes of truce after days of crisis in the warring SP shattered on Tuesday despite a last minute effort to broker peace between the factions led by Mulayam and his son Akhilesh amid a battle over the party`s symbol, the cycle.
SP patriarch Mulayam Singh was closeted with his son at his residence for more than three hours on Tuesday, but, the two failed to shake hands.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Wednesday said any question about a possible freeze on the Samajwadi Party's election symbol 'cycle' was "hypotheical" and the poll panel would examine the matter before taking any decision.
"Let us first examine the documents submitted by both the groups," Zaidi said.
