Yadav Family Feud: Mulayam Singh Yadav cancels press conference

Shivpal Yadav on Friday held a brief meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in an attempt to settle the Samajwadi Party in-fighting before election commission gives the decision on their feud on January 9. 

The election commission has asked the two factions of Samajwadi Party to end fight and settle matter before the said date or else it will freeze their election symbol, leaving the party in major debacle days ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in Feb-March, this year.

The Friday meeting, as per reports, did not yield any results as both Akhilesh and Shivpal refused to budge from their stand or conditions of settlements, ending the meeting within 5 mins. 

Here are the live updates: 

2:00pm 

#Mulayam Singh cancels his 4pm press conference

12:15pm

#EC asked us to submit affidavits by January 9. Will submit affidavit of MLAs, MLCs, MPs between 3-4pm today (Friday): Ramgopal Yadav to ANI

#Out of 229 MLAs, 212 signed affidavit. 56 out of 68 MLCs, 15 out of 24 MPs have signed the affidavit, will submit to EC today (Friday): Ramgopal Yadav to ANI

#Party under leadership of Akhilesh Yadav is the real Samajwadi party, and should be seen so. Cycle symbol must be allotted to us:Ramgopal to ANI

11:55am

#Meeting underway at Mulayam Singh's residence, Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh present in the meet: ANI

11:45am

#Kiranmoy Nanda reaches Akhilesh's residence

11:40am

#Mulayam, Akhilesh and Shivpal to meet again today (Friday)
#Amar Singh will Kept away from the meeting, Azam Khan can be part of it 
#Sources say this meeting could end the Yadav family fued
#Formula is ready only final yes is pending: Sources

Also read | Yadav family feud: Factions led by Mulayam, Akhilesh still looking for ways to fortify grip over Samajwadi Party

The Cycle War

The ongoing feud within the Samajwadi Party doesn't seem to die down with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav continuing their attempts to claim ownership of the ruling party even as further efforts are still being made for a rapprochement between the warring factions led by the father-son duo.

The efforts to resolve the issue ahead of the crucial assembly elections seem to go one step forward, two steps backward, and one step to the side. It is clear that both the factions have truce on their minds but at the same time they want to stick to their stand as well.

Alliance with Congress on cards? 

There are also talks of a possible alliance between the SP and the Congress. If Akhilesh decides to go on his own, he might attempt to forge an alliance with Congress but that too will materialise if the chief minister gets hold on the party and its symbol.