The political scenario in Uttar Pradesh took an interesting turn on Monday with the BJP insisting it would go to polls without a chief ministerial face while the faction-ridden Samajwadi Party (SP) tried to put a lid on their fratricidal war by announcing that post-election Akhilesh Yadav would remain their sole choice for the Chief Minister's job.
In the run up to the crucial polls early next year, BJP's UP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday announced that his party would go to the polls without a chief ministerial face.
“All political parties are waiting for the chief ministerial candidate of the BJP...It is the clear-cut policy of our party that we will contest the Assembly elections without projecting anyone as our CM candidate,” he told news persons in Bareilly.
“The BJP had projected CM faces in Assam and Delhi Assembly polls...While we succeeded in the former, we lost the latter ...We fought Haryana and Jharkhand without projecting any CM candidate and won,” Maurya said.
He claimed that the BJP will win over 300 of the 403 seats in UP and the party's central Parliamentary Board will decide who has to be the Chief Minister.
After long-drawn discussions and assessing the pros and cons of projecting a single face, BJP strategists decided not to project anyone to avoid factionalism among the aspirants for the top post. In the past whenever the BJP projected a CM candidate in UP, they met with a setback. The party also does not have a single State leader with a pan-UP appeal and charisma to galvanise voters.
With this official declaration, the party has made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the face of the BJP's campaign in the electorally-significant State.
To a question as to whether the BJP will accept Akhilesh Yadav in its fold if he quits SP, Maurya said no member of the Saifai family has any place in his party. Saifai is the native place of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The query came in the backdrop of infighting between the divided camps of Akhilesh, his uncle and RS member Ram Gopal Yadav and senior State Minister Azam Khan on the one hand and Mulayam, State party chief Shivpal Singh Yadav (younger brother of Mulayam) and general secretary Amar Singh on the other. The family feud intensified when Mulayam recently announced that post-election the Chief Minister's selection would be done by newly-elected MlAs and the party's Parliamentary Board, indicating that Akhilesh was not an automatic choice.
Meanwhile, amid reports that Akhilesh was not going to play second fiddle to anyone in the party, the SP on Monday sought to blame the media for creating uncertainty over the Chief Minister face of the party.
The party on Monday drafted its senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Kiranmoy Nanda to clarify its position on the chief ministerial candidate.
“The confusion is in the media, not within the party and the people. Samajwadi Party will win the next election and Akhilesh Yadav will be the next Chief Minister,” claimed Nanda at a Press conference at lucknow.
“I am making this statement as the national vice-president of the party and the entire party including the national president Mulayam Singh Yadav were unanimous on this issue,” said Nanda.
When asked if there was no confusion in the party over the CM's face of the party why had Ram Gopal Yadav shot off an angry letter to Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nanda said, “What Ram Gopal Yadav said in the letter were his personal views''.
SP general secretary and leader in Rajya Sabha Ram Gopal Yadav on last Saturday shot off an angry letter to Mulayam asking him to reconsider his decision for not projecting Akhilesh Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate of the party in Assembly elections. He also told Mulayam that he would be held responsible if party loses in the polls for not making Akhilesh the CM face
“You all (media) wrongly intercepted the statement of Netaji on Friday last as he did not speak about CM face of the party for the next election but only talked about how a CM was elected as per the party's constitution,” he said. .
The SP leader said that the third phase of the Mulayam Sandesh Yatra would be flagged off from Varanasi on November 9 by Shivpal Singh Yadav and he will showcase Akhilesh as the CM candidate of the SP.
“On September 10 when the first phase of Mulayam Sandesh Yatra was launched, Akhilesh was the CM face and he continued to remain the same. There is not deviation of the party on the CM face,” he asserted. Nanda further said that the party was preparing for a grand silver jubilee celebrations starting from November 5.
Kironmoy Nanda claimed that Shivpal Singh Yadav had already said that Akhilesh will be the CM face of the party.
.Meanwhile Akshay Yadav, MP from Firozabad and son of Ram Gopal Yadav, said in Firozabad on Monday that Akhilesh Yadav should be declared as the chief minister face of the party for the assembly elections. Addressing a public meeting in Firozabad on Monday he said RsRs if the party decides to go to the polls without the face of the Akhilesh Yadav as chief minister then its tally of seat would plummet to only 20 seats in assembly''.
He said there are some forces which are hatching a conspiracy against the first family of the party and designs of such forces would never be fulfilled.
RsRsAkhilesh Yadav is the undisputed leader of the party and whatever has happened in the party in last one month has spread frustration and dejection among the supporters of the party. With the present state of affairs resentment among the rank and file of the party is growing against the top leadership of the party'', said Akshay Yadav.
Defending the letter written by his father Ram Gopal Yadav to party chief Mulayam , the Firozabad MP said RsRs MY father would have written the letter only after the due diligence''.