Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and newly unanimously elected party’s national president Akhilesh Yadav and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav during the Samajwadi party national convention in Lucknow

Lucknow: The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh yesterday split down the middle with the faction headed by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav removing Mulayam Singh Yadav as party chief and appointing him in his place at a convention in which the group claimed support of the majority of legislators and district units.