NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief whip in the Uttar Pradesh assembly Kamal Akhtar resigned from his post on Tuesday, saying he was stepping down on the directions of party president Akhilesh Yadav.“I have always followed the directions of our national president, Akhilesh Yadav ji. Whatever direction he gives will be followed,” Akhtar, the MLA from Kanth in Moradabad district, told PTI.Later, speaking to reporters, he described “organisational changes” as a continuous process in every political party.“No post is permanent. Just as the term of the legislature comes to an end and people are replaced by new faces, the same process applies to organisational positions. My leader, Akhilesh Yadav, directed me that I should no longer work in this post and that the responsibility should be given to new people. As a party worker, it is my duty to abide by his instructions,” he added.Akhtar’s resignation as chief whip comes amid reports of a rift with Ruchi Vira, the SP’s Lok Sabha MP from Moradabad. When asked about the alleged rift, he told reporters they should seek a response from Vira.He also denied being angry or upset.“It would be better if you ask her. As far as I am concerned, I don’t think there has been any issue… Why should I be upset? A person feels upset only when he considers himself a leader. I have always considered myself a party worker. For the last 30 years, I have been with the Samajwadi Party, raising slogans of ‘Akhilesh Yadav Zindabad’ and ‘Mulayam Singh Yadav Zindabad’, and I will continue to do so,” he said.The Kanth MLA further stated that the SP’s national leadership would decide the next chief whip.“I am confident that a capable person will be chosen, and all of us will extend our full support to him,” he remarked.Akhtar was appointed to the post in July 2024 after the party’s then-chief whip, MLA Manoj Pandey, stepped down after voting for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh in February that year.Meanwhile, Tuesday’s development also comes days after Uttar Pradesh minister OP Rajbhar, an ally of the ruling BJP, claimed that the SP was on the verge of a “major split.” According to Rajbhar, several of the SP’s “disgruntled MPs and leaders are ready to defect to the BJP or form a separate bloc.”Akhilesh Yadav has dismissed the allegations as “baseless.”Uttar Pradesh is due to hold assembly elections early next year. The SP was last in power from 2012 to 2017, when Akhilesh Yadav served as chief minister.
