Mulayam to meet Akhilesh to end standoff

NEW DElHI: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today left for Lucknow to meet senior party leaders amid a raging feud between his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh and brother Shivpal.

Mulayam was to leave for the Uttar Pradesh capital tomorrow but he decided to leave this morning itself, party sources said.

Party general secretary Ramgopal Yadav said today that Mulayam will meet Akhilesh to end the standoff.

"Everything will be resolved once netaji (Mulayam) and CM will talk.... He is coming to Lucknow," he said after meeting Akhilesh in Lucknow.

Yesterday, Mulayam gave a patient hearing to Shivpal for four hours to get his side of the story.

Though both Akhilesh and Shivpal have hardened their stands, the SP chief would ensure that the two make a climbdown so that the party and the government stop suffering due to the feud which came out in open just months before the assembly polls due early next year, the sources said.

In an open showdown on September 13, the CM stripped his uncle and Cabinet Minister Shivpal of key ministerial portfolios, hours after Mulayam replaced him with Shivpal as the party's state unit chief.