BackYadav family feud could hurt Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh elections
The Shivpal Yadav issue has brought to the fore the power struggle between Akhilesh and Mulayam Singh Yadav, something the BJP and BSP can leverage
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New Delhi: The political feud developing in Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family could potentially deal a setback to the ruling party ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year. It could work to the advantage of either of its two rivals, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The election is emerging as a tight three-cornered contest, with opinion polls forecasting a hung assembly. If the rift within team SP is not resolved, it could give its rivals the decisive advantage.
Predictably, Yadav, the 76-year-old family patriarch is being approached by both sides—his son, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, and his younger brother Shivpal Yadav—to prevail.
The internal power struggle that had been brewing in the Yadav family for some time became public on Tuesday when Akhilesh Yadav stripped Shivpal Yadav of key ministerial portfolios late—just hours after Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced the latter would replace his son as the SP’s state president.
“Everyone abides by Netaji’s (Mulayam Singh) decision, but there are some decisions that I take on my own," a combative Akhilesh Yadav responded.
Trying to keep his flock together, the SP chief has called for Shivpal Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav, general secretary of the party for a meeting in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, amid growing speculation that he will resign from the UP cabinet, Shivpal Yadav said that while portfolio allotment is the discretion of the CM, he will abide by the decision of Mulayam Singh Yadav. “It is the discretion of CM to give or take portfolios and remove officers and keep his advisors. I will follow Netaji’s (Mulayam Singh Yadav’s) directions and will fulfil responsibilities given by him," he told reporters at Saifai, Mulayam’s native village.
Ramesh Dixit, Lucknow-based political analyst and former professor of political science at Lucknow University, said, “The immediate message sent out by Akhilesh Yadav is loud and clear, he wants to build an image for himself as a development-oriented leader which sets him apart from other party leaders who have traditionally played along caste lines. Shivpal Yadav has been working at the local level in organising the party and is a man of the organisation, but Akhilesh is a man of the masses and he will not let the party’s image get to him."
Signs of an impending crisis first emerged on Tuesday, when Akhilesh Yadav removed chief secretary Deepak Singhal, who is said to be close to Shivpal Yadav, barely two months after the bureaucrat had taken charge. A day before, the chief minister, who is trying to refurbish the party’s image, had sacked mining minister Gayatri Prajapati and Panchayti Raj minister Rajkishore Singh over alleged wrongdoing.
In June, Akhilesh Yadav opposed and scotched a proposed merger, said to have been facilitated by Shivpal Yadav, between SP and alleged gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal. Despite the growing rift, Mulayam Singh Yadav backed Shivpal Yadav, when the latter threatened to resign alleging rampant corruption.
“If he leaves SP will get divided into factions," said Mulayam while warning party members against indulging in land grab and other such activities during an event on 15 August in Lucknow. “The fight within the family has created two factions in the party and now that it has gone public, it will hurt the party politically," said a senior party leader from Lucknow, who did not want to be named. Analysts said the SP will have to stand out amid the negative publicity if it wants to return to power in 2017.
“BJP will now try harder to woo the other backward class (OBC) vote which had shifted to it from the SP during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, while Mayawati’s rallies across UP are getting a good response and her BSP will prove to be tough competition too. In this scenario, Akhilesh Yadav has to showcase himself as a credible option before the state goes to polls," said Dixit.
Gyan Varma and PTI contributed to this story.
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