Portfolios to be given back to Shivpal Yadav: Akhilesh

Lucknow [India], Sept. 16 (ANI): In a move signalling to bring some calm in the recent turbulence in the Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday announced that his uncle Shivpal Yadav would get back all his previous ministerial portfolios. He also announced that sacked minister Gayatri Prajapati will be inducted into the cabinet as well. The development is bound to bring some normalcy to SP after the party was hit by a crisis when senior Cabinet minister Shivpal Yadav resigned from the ministry and also quit the post of Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party chief. Before quitting, Shivpal first met his elder brother and party chief Mulayam and then met Akhilesh. According to reports, the Chief Minister then offered him an olive branch by restoring all his key portfolios and allowing him to remain the state chief. Speaking to ANI here after meeting Mulayam, Shivpal said, "I have spoken to Netaji and put my views in front of him. All is well now and we are united again. All his orders have almost been implemented. Starting tomorrow all will be back to the old ways." Akhilesh had earlier divested Shivpal of all important ministerial portfolios including PWD, irrigation, cooperative, flood control and revenue and handed him the social welfare department. Prior to it, Shivpal had replaced him as its new chief in Uttar Pradesh on the instructions of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The development came hours after Akhilesh shunted out state chief secretary Deepak Singhal, considered close to Shivpal and replaced him with Rahul Bhatnagar. Disagreements between Akhilesh and his uncle have been reported on several occasions, including on the choice of official to appointed as the state's chief secretary after Alok Ranjan's term ended and the postponement of Quami Ekta Dal's merger with the Samajwadi Party. The move comes at a time when the state is gearing up for assembly elections which is scheduled to take place next year. (ANI)