The humble vehicle means power in warring SP
It sounds unbelievable that in an age when private space missions are being planned and the dead are being preserved for medicine to take that giant leap forward to bring them back to life, a rancorous battle should be on for a humble cycle. Members of Uttar Pradesh's most influential and ruling political family are leaving no stone unturned to claim rights over the Samajwadi Party's election symbol, the ‘cycle'. This is not as ridiculous as it may seem, for it is the election season. The cycle is etched in the minds of voters as representing the Samajwadi Party, and the faction which gets it has a head-start over its rival. By now the tussle for numerical support is all but over, with Chief Minister Akhliesh Yadav getting the better of party veterans, including his father and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. He has time and again demonstrated his command over the loyalty of an overwhelming number of party MlAs, MlCs and even ground-level workers.
Riding on this assurance and the general perception that he is being unfairly targeted by vested interests within his party, the Akhilesh Yadav camp, ably guided by family member Ramgopal Yadav, had the courage to even oust Mulayam Singh Yadav as the party's national president; the sacking of Shivpal Yadav by the Akhilesh group was a small matter in comparison. Realising that it had lost the fight for numerical support within the party, the Mulayam Singh Yadav camp — with Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh being prominent players — has begun to push the Election Commission of India to recognise it as the ‘real' Samajwadi Party and let it have the cycle symbol. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's group too has petitioned the poll panel. The Election Commission of India does not have the luxury of deciding at leisure since election dates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly have been announced, and polling is to begin in a month's time. Perhaps it will take the middle way out, freeze the cycle and allot new symbols to the two factions. This would of course mean that the Samajwadi Party will approach the electorate in a near-formal split situation.
While the non-allotment of the cycle to either of the two warring factions will be a new irritant to both the groups, it may also determine whether fresh alignments in the State take place. The Congress, for instance, appears, from all indications, ready to align with the Akhilesh Yadav camp in a pre-poll understanding. But if the cycle does not come to the Chief Minister's aide and if this is seen as a moral and electoral setback to his faction, will the Congress then take the riskIJ Of course, the Congress is hardly in a position to pick and choose, given that it has a next-to-nothing chance of even causing a ripple in the State election on its own. And yet, it would not want to align with a party which faces an identity crisis. Besides, if the father-son factions in the Samajwadi Party take each other on, the Congress (even if its ties up with one group) can get squeezed out. Also, what will happen to the Congress's dreams of attracting the upper caste votes if it collaborates with a party viewed unfavourably by this groupingIJ The Congress’s chief ministerial candidate has said that she would make way for Akhilesh Yadav if a tie-up happens. Will voters be as considerateIJ