The Samajwadi Party telling Shivpal Yadav that he was free to leave the alliance appears to have finally ended the decade-long slugfest between the uncle-nephew duo for the control of the party founded by Mulayam Singh Yadav in October 1992.
Political observers, amused at the office memorandum issued to Shivpal Yadav by the Samajwadi Party, are of the view that Akhilesh Yadav has freed his uncle from the provisions of the anti-defection law and that he is now free to join any party.
Shivpal Yadav is technically a Samajwadi Party MLA as he contested and won the recent election on its symbol and is covered by the anti-defection law. In April 2017, he floated his own political party called Pragatisheel Samaj Party (Lohia).
The battle between the uncle-nephew duo began even before Akhilesh was sworn in as the chief minister of UP in March, 2012. As per tradition, the first family of the SP reaches the native village in Saifai (Etawah) on festivals like Holi and Diwali. Mulayam Singh Yadav had convened a meeting of the family and proposed the name of Akhilesh Yadav as the next chief minister, which was opposed by Shivpal.
Shivpal, who was an obvious contender for the top job, wanted the decision to be deferred for at least six months and Mulayam to take over as the CM. However, Ramgopal Yadav, the SP general secretary and cousin of Mulayam, put his foot down, saying such an important decision could not be deferred. The fate of Akhilesh Yadav was sealed and he became the youngest CM of UP in March 20212.
Shivpal, who lost the crucial battle for the top job, refused to reconcile with his diminished status in the Akhilesh Yadav government as a cabinet minister. The battle of one-upmanship continued and there were periodic upheavals in the party and the cabinet.
Gyatri Prajapati, the mining minister in the cabinet, was sacked, as was another senior minister Balram Yadav for negotiating an electoral alliance with the party of mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, and the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar in September 2013.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the SP suffered a huge setback as the BJP, along with its allies, won 75 out of 80 seats in UP. It was a huge loss of face for Akhilesh Yadav. However, with the backing of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, he managed to stave off the crisis.
In October 2016, the uncle-nephew duo openly traded charges from the dais at the state office. Two months later, Shivpal was dismissed from the cabinet. Shivpal hit back and convinced Mulayam Singh Yadav to dismiss Akhilesh Yadav from the party. In the last days of December 2016, Mulayam Singh, as the president, announced the dismissal of Akhilesh from the party.
Akhilesh, aided by Ramgopal Yadav, hit back and convened the national executive of the party which dethroned his father and re-elected Akhilesh the president of the party.
The dispute reached the Election Commission of India, which recognised Akhilesh Yadav as the party president on January 15. Shivpal contested the 2017 assembly election on the SP ticket and won.
In April 2017, he floated his own party. During the last five years, Mulayam made umpteen efforts for the reconciliation between Akhilesh and Shivpal, but to no avail.
However, the ‘free to go anywhere’ office memorandum issued on Saturday may have finally ended the decade-old chacha-bhatija feud.