Agra:  Akhilesh Yadav was on Thursday unanimously re-elected as the Samajwadi Party’s national president for a five-year term, further consolidating his grip over the party after sidelining his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Yadav.

His re-election was announced by senior leader Ram Gopal Yadav at the party's national convention in Agra.

The party’s constitution was amended to extend the tenure of the party chief to five years from the present three years.

Now that 44-year-old Mr. Akhilesh will remain at the helm for five years, the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2022 will be held under his presidentship.

The State president’s tenure has already been extended by a similar period by the State executive and Naresh Uttam was unanimously re-elected to the post for five years.

Mulayam, Shivpal gave a miss

Both Mr. Mulayam and Mr. Shivpal gave a miss to the event just as they stayed away from the State executive meeting of the party in Lucknow on September 23.

Mr. Akhilesh had personally invited his father for the national convention.

Apparently, to send a message of all is well in the family, Mr. Akhilesh on Wednesday said his uncle, Mr Shivpal, blessed and congratulated him over the phone.

As he was addressing a press conference a day ahead of the party’s national convention, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was asked about reports that his uncle had called him up.

“I got the benefit of my age and our relation. He [Mr. Shivpal] gave his blessings and congratulated me,” Mr. Akhilesh said.

The party had witnessed a bitter feud between Mr. Akhilesh and Mr. Shivpal and this infighting adversely affected the party in the Assembly polls earlier this year.

Mr. Akhilesh recently dropped enough hints that there was no likelihood of any reconciliation with his warring uncle when he cautioned partymen to beware of “fake samajwadis“.

“But it has opened the eyes of samajwadis. Now they will not succeed,” he recently said in Lucknow in an apparent attack on Mr. Shivpal, though he did not take his name.

Akhilesh enjoys blessings of Mulayam

Mr. Akhilesh has maintained that he enjoyed the blessings of his 77-year-old father, and Mr.Mulayam, on his part, corroborated it days later, saying, “My blessings are with him [Mr.Akhilesh) as he is my son, though I don’t agree with his decisions.”

Mr. Mulayam had ruled out forming a party “as of now”, putting a lid on speculation that he could part ways with the party that he formed 25 years ago amid the continuing battle for supremacy in the party.

Both Mr. Mulayam and Mr. Shivpal have been sidelined by Mr. Akhilesh ever since he snatched the crown of party chief from his father at the party’s national convention in Agra on January 1.

Mr. Shivpal had announced in June that he would float a samajwadi secular front “to fight communal forces“.

In a series of tit-for-tat actions, Mr. Mulayam, last month, replaced Akhilesh-loyalist Ram Gopal with Mr. Shivpal as the secretary of the Lohia Trust.

Taking full control of the party after being crowned as its head and alloted the ‘bicycle’ symbol by the Election Commission on January 16, Mr. Akhilesh has been going full throttle.

The key Lok Sabha by-elections to be held in Gorakhpur and Phulpur (seats vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya) will give the SP a chance to gauge which way the wind is blowing months after it faced a rout in the Assembly polls.

Mr. Akhilesh has already said if results of the elections were in “our favour, it will give a message not only for the 2019 (Lok Sabha polls), but also for the 2022 (Assembly polls).