Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav staged a coup at the Samajwadi Party national convention he called on Sunday. His supporters led by uncle Ram Gopal Yadav declared him the chief of Samajwadi Party in place of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The 5,000-strong gathering deposed Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav from the post of the party's state chief and "sacked" politician Amar Singh. His supporters even clashed with the Shivpal Yadav camp at the Samajwadi Party headquarters in Lucknow. In a letter issued in the afternoon, Mulayam Singh called the convention "unconstitutional" and expelled Ram Gopal Yadav for six years for organising it.