Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, has asked Akhilesh Yadav to step down as the party national President in his father's favour.

The statement of Aparna, wife of Mulayam Singh's younger son Prateek Yadav, to an online portal coincides with the expulsion of some Shivpal Yadav proteges like Deepak Mishra by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for alleged anti-party activities.

Mulayam Singh had on Sunday told a gathering in Mainpuri that anointing Akhilesh as Chief Minister was his "big mistake" after which the party fortunes nosedived.

Party sources said a Samajwadi Party split is imminent and there is a waiting game on as to who blinks first.

While discontent has been brewing in the party since August 2016, the two warring factions have so far continued their bickering within the Samajwadi Party.

After the SP's drubbing in the February-March assembly elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother Shivpal Yadav has been flexing his political muscle and has voiced his criticism of Akhilesh openly.

Sources close to Akhilesh however say he is the undisputed leader of the Samajwadi Party and that there is no space at the top of the party for anyone else.