With Mulayam already spelling out that he would soon decide on the new chief minister, spin doctors of Akhilesh Yadav have braced for the battle, too.
Sources said he was already in touch with senior Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leaders for possible support if it came to a floor test in the state assembly.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has already “sent positive signals” to Akhilesh aides.
In a possible scenario of a majority of party leaders reclining themselves from Saturday’s meeting for fear of losing on the party symbol ‘cycle’, Akhilesh might also recommend dissolution of the assembly, a reliable source said.
There was also a talk of floating a new party by the Akhilesh faction, sources told IANS that “Akhilesh wants to fight to the finish to claim the SP name and the cycle symbol.”
The new party may either be named the Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (RSP) with a party symbol of a ‘banyan tree’ or the Progressive Samajwadi Party (PSP) with party symbol as ‘motorcycle’
