Senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav on Thursday said he will abide by the decisions made by the party leadership, despite strained relations with Akhilesh Yadav, his nephew and party president.

Both Shivpal Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, who are Samajwadi Party veterans, were left out of the 55-member national executive list that the party had released on October 16.

“I may not hold any post now, but I am a true soldier of the party and will go by decisions made by it,” PTI quoted Shivpal Yadav as saying.

Shivpal Yadav said the Bharatiya Janata Party had benefitted from the rift in their family before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in March. “Had there not been differences in the party, the Samajwadi Party would have formed government and Akhilesh would have become the chief minister again,” he added.

However, he downplayed the family feud, saying, “All families have differences, and mine had one too...there is no problem in the party anymore.”

Leaders of the Samajwadi Party have blamed the feud between Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav for the outfit’s abysmal performance in the polls, where it won only 47 seats in the 403-seats Assembly. The strain became apparent in September 2016, when Shivpal Yadav was appointed the state party president, after which Akhilesh Yadav had relieved him of his Cabinet portfolios.

The feud had escalated in December after the former chief minister released his own list of candidates for the elections. However, despite these developments, both sides had consistently maintained that they there were no differences in the party.