The euphoria of grand roadshow was yet to evaporate when Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav came to know about ‘Netaji’(Mulayam Singh Yadav) planning to meet some journalists. “Is it a Press conference,” he asked one of his aides, who looks after the media in Samajwadi Party.
Around 8 pm he was informed that a news channel will interview Netaji. And in next hour Mulayam declared his opposition to Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance.
The statement came at a time when the party has started revving up its campaign to win hearts and minds of the voters in the State.
The workers were in ‘josh’ after witnessing chemistry between Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav. The catchline, “UP ko yeh saath pasand hai” (people of UP liked this alliance). Moreover, the statement has come at a time when the roadshow held in three Assembly constituencies by the SP got good response.
Was Mulayam’s statement a result of frustrationIJ
Mulayam definitely knew about what is coming as the roadshow was planned in advance and the media had started writing about it and channels had discussions on Prime Time.
If he had reservations about the alliance, why he did not react before the joint Press conferenceIJ There was no signal from 5, Vikramaditya Marg, that Mulayam will oppose it publically and can even ask the party workers to vote against the alliance.
In fact, Congress strategist Prashant Kishore had first met Mulayam in Delhi in September and after that he met Akhilesh in lucknow
Akhilesh camp believes that Netaji probably did not realise that the roadshow will get such a response. “The milling multitude that swarmed Vijay Rath carrying Akhilesh and Rahul comprised SP youth. Netaji must have seen those pictures in television and in frustration gave such statement,’ a young Samajwadi leader said.
Mulayam in his statement had said he is against this alliance and will not campaign for this. He said the Congress has failed the people. “The Congress has ruled the country for long and has never worked for the development of masses. If India is
backward today it is because of the Congress,” he said in his statement.
Is Mulayam really angry with CongressIJ Does he actually believe the country is lagging behind because of CongressIJ If that’s so why did he take Congress help to become Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time in 1989IJ He even kept Congress-led UPA afloat for 10 years and even supported the Manmohan Singh Government to ink nuclear deal despite his opposition to US policies.
So — it cannot be Congress that made Mulayam fuming. He must be angry because Akhilesh has come out of his shadow and was now negotiating of his own. Rahul, in his Press conference, threw enough hints suggesting that he was keen to forge an alliance with Akhilesh.
He even said Akhilesh's intention was good but was not allowed free hand.
In this background, will Mulayam’s directive to party workers hamper SP’s poll prospectIJ
Nomita P Kumar, a social scientist with Giri Institute of Development Sciences, said it will have impact in a few pockets of Etawah, Eta and Mainpuri.
“Mind you - Akhilesh is the face of this election. The tag line of the campaign is ‘Kaam bolta hai’ and the Congress too has tried to piggy ride on the clean image of Akhilesh. Mulayam is nowhere in the scene. But there are traditional voters who are still hooked to Mulayam. Mulayam’s directives will have effect on them,” said Kumar, adding that this year’s election revolves around youth and Akhilesh has emerged as youth icon.
“Mulayam cannot topple Akhilesh’s apple cart now. It is too late,” she declared.
