Mulayam axes four Akhilesh associates from Lohia Trust

Lucknow, Aug 8 (IANS) The bitterness and feuding in the Samajwadi Party (SP) once again came to the fore on Tuesday as its Convener Mulayam Singh Yadav axed four close associates of party chief and son Akhilesh Yadav from the Lohia Trust.

Mulayam is the Chairman of the Lohia Trust, a body which takes forward the ethos and ideology of late socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia. The trustees who were booted out include Ashok Shakya, Ahmad Hasan, Usha Verma and Ram Govind Chowdhary.

All are close associates of Akhilesh Yadav and had ditched Mulayam during the father-son feud in December. Akhilesh had ousted his father as the national SP President in January and replaced him at an emergency meeting of the party, one declared illegal by the Mulayam-Shivpal Yadav camp.

Ahmad Hasan and Ram Govind Chowdhary were cabinet ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav government. Chowdhary is now the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.

At the meet attended by Mulayam, his younger brother Shivpal, Bhagwati Singh and others, both Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Ram Gopal Yadav were absent.

They were invited but did not come for the important meeting, Shivpal told the media later. He also aired the expectation that they would attend the next meeting.