Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Samajwad’s Big Boss” (January 18). The Election Commission’s ruling that the symbol ‘cycle’ belongs to the Akhilesh faction, may be the end of the first innings of the match which Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and strategist Ramgopal Yadav set out to play six months ago. The second innings of this match would be more interesting.
There are many questions. Will the so-called anti-BJP alliance (consisting of Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress) be beneficialIJ Is Akhilesh Yadav betting too much on the youth factorIJ Will a weak Congress and RJD, with minimal presence in Uttar Pradesh, be of much useIJ
The Congress flip-flop of earlier projecting Sheila Dikshit as the chief ministerial candidate and now being keen on playing the role of a supporting party in a bigger alliance shows that the grand old party is looking for a face-saver in Uttar Pradesh. Will this alliance beat anti-incumbencyIJ
On the family front, for the Yadav clan, it would be interesting to see if Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Yadav actually put up candidates against Akhilesh Yadav. If this happens, then the vote split will be a potential dampner for Akhilesh.
The next three months will bring out the best ‘dance of democracy’ to happen on the stage of Indian politics