Quami Ekta Dal

The battle within the first family of the Samajwadi Party shows no sign of abating. Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today met top leaders including warring son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and brother and party's Uttar Pradesh chief Shivpal Yadav to broker peace.

National general secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Amar Singh today sought to play down the recent controversies within the party, saying Mulayam Singh Yadav could never go "against" Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav but every father had a right to "admonish" his son.

Two days after the formal declaration of Quami Ekta Dal's merger with Samajwadi Party, its president Afzal Ansari today met Mulayam Singh Yadav and announced a major rally with the SP chief in Ghazipur next month.

Rift in Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's family came to the fore today at the birthday party of his brotherRam Gopal Yadav, with another brother Shivpal Yadav displaying his disinterest apparently because of his unhappiness over thefiasco involving merger of Quami Ekta Dal with SP.

After the fiasco over merger of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED), senior Samajwadi Party leader and minister Shivpal Yadav today said there is "no place for criminals in our party" and insisted that there was no rift in his party over the issue.

Hours after the merger of Samajwadi Party and jailed legislator Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav removed a senior minister - Balram Yadav - who is believed to have negotiated the merger. The merger was said to the brainchild of Shivpal Yadav, a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party and the Chief Minister's uncle.

Elections are a time of political crossovers and mergers, but a merger of a smaller party with the ruling Samajwadi Party ahead of next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh comes with a twist. The smaller party in question is the Quami Ekta Dal, founded by jailed legislator Mukhtar Ansari and his family in 2010.

A CBI court on Saturday granted custody parole to Uttar Pradesh legislator and chief of Quami Ekta Dal Mukhtar Ansari till May 10 for election campaigning. He is contesting from Ghosi constituency.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal will begin campaigning against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Varanasi from Tuesday, his colleagues said on Monday.

Mukhtar Ansari, who heads the Quami Ekta Dal and is in prison, has withdrawn as a candidate in Varanasi, the Uttar Pradesh constituency from where Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is contesting the general election.

The battle within the first family of the Samajwadi Party shows no sign of abating. Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today met top leaders including warring son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and brother and party's Uttar Pradesh chief Shivpal Yadav to broker peace.

National general secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Amar Singh today sought to play down the recent controversies within the party, saying Mulayam Singh Yadav could never go "against" Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav but every father had a right to "admonish" his son.

Two days after the formal declaration of Quami Ekta Dal's merger with Samajwadi Party, its president Afzal Ansari today met Mulayam Singh Yadav and announced a major rally with the SP chief in Ghazipur next month.

Rift in Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's family came to the fore today at the birthday party of his brotherRam Gopal Yadav, with another brother Shivpal Yadav displaying his disinterest apparently because of his unhappiness over thefiasco involving merger of Quami Ekta Dal with SP.

After the fiasco over merger of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED), senior Samajwadi Party leader and minister Shivpal Yadav today said there is "no place for criminals in our party" and insisted that there was no rift in his party over the issue.

Hours after the merger of Samajwadi Party and jailed legislator Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav removed a senior minister - Balram Yadav - who is believed to have negotiated the merger. The merger was said to the brainchild of Shivpal Yadav, a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party and the Chief Minister's uncle.

Elections are a time of political crossovers and mergers, but a merger of a smaller party with the ruling Samajwadi Party ahead of next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh comes with a twist. The smaller party in question is the Quami Ekta Dal, founded by jailed legislator Mukhtar Ansari and his family in 2010.

A CBI court on Saturday granted custody parole to Uttar Pradesh legislator and chief of Quami Ekta Dal Mukhtar Ansari till May 10 for election campaigning. He is contesting from Ghosi constituency.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal will begin campaigning against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Varanasi from Tuesday, his colleagues said on Monday.

Mukhtar Ansari, who heads the Quami Ekta Dal and is in prison, has withdrawn as a candidate in Varanasi, the Uttar Pradesh constituency from where Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is contesting the general election.