MUMBAI, Jan. 4 -- Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Rais Shaikh has revolted against the Maharashtra leadership of the party. He has accused it of running the party like a "private limited company" and sought the leadership's intervention to "save" the existence of the party in the state. The allegations are part of a letter written to national president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday. Interestingly, this is the second letter written by Shaikh challenging the leadership of Maharashtra president Abu Asim Azmi. The first letter was sent to the Samajwadi chief on December 25. On October 2, 2024, HT reported cracks in the SP Maharashtra unit as Shaikh was in touch with the Sharad Pawar led NCP (SP) ahead of the state assembly poll. The shift was eventually stopped. The infighting in the party has reached to a level where Shaikh nominated his brother Salim of the upcoming polls of Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) but had to withdraw his decision following an objection raised by the state leadership and a subsequent directive issued by Samajwadi president to cancel the nomination. The same also found a mention in the three-page letter. Shaikh represents the Bhiwandi East assembly constituency as an MLA and this is his second term. Previously, he was a two-term municipal corporator from two different constituencies - Govandi and Nagpada. "Some influential elements in the party have started a well-planned disinformation campaign against me. I was accused of dynasty politics despite following your order to withdraw the nomination of my brother," the letter states. "Currently, the election tickets of the party for the municipal corporations were distributed like a private limited company and not like a democratic party. The priority was given to those inducted from other parties rather than those who have been loyal to the party for decades," the letter says In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, Shaikh had resigned as a member of the MLA, noting the concerns over issues related to the party organization that were not resolved by the state leadership despite him raising them repeatedly....