To appease party seniors and his brothers, the ageing patriarch hasn’t given full support to his son. This has eroded the son’s ability to deliver
All is not well in Uttar Pradesh’s first family, going by the public spats within the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly election. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family is one of the biggest political families of India with at least 20 members holding public office.
It is not clear why the SP chief made his son Akhilesh Yadav the Chief Minister. There have been other back-seat drivers including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Shiv Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray who managed party affairs even after the next generation of leaders came to the forefront.
As for Akhilesh Yadav, he has had to do a fine balancing act to smoothen feathers within the family and also within the party. When he became Chief Minister, it was said that there were four-and-a-half Chief Ministers in the State — party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, his brothers Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav, his close aide Azam Khan. Akhilesh Yadav was the half Chief Minister.
Since day one of Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure, there have been tussles between the ‘four and a half Chief Ministers’. Akhilesh Yadav has not been able to assert himself while his father has not made the party hierarchy clear, further eroding the Chief Minister’s authority.
Now, Mulayam Singh Yadav has much to worry as the party is bidding for power again. Things are not looking good for the ruling party as there is disenchantment with SP rule . The workers are confused with the constant family bickering.
Also, the rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is fast picking up pact. BSP chief Mayawati is trying to woo the Muslims to make a Dalit-Muslim combination. If she succeeds, it will be a big blow to the ruling party. The SP has always depended on its ‘Muslim plus Yadav’ core votes. The BJP too is making an effort, enthused by its 2014 performance when it won 71 of the State’s 80 lok Sabha seats.
The present face-off in the party between Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav projects the real state of affairs in the party. Earlier, family feuds were kept under wraps. Now, they have come out in the open.
last week Shivpal Yadav threatened to resign. The next day, Mulayam Singh Yadav jumped to his defence, chiding Akhilesh Yadav. At a flag-hoisting programme on Independence Day, the party chief alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched against the his brother. “Shivpal is working very hard. A few people are against him. If he quits, then the situation for the party will become bad. Half of the people will go with him,” the SP supremo said. He also cautioned his son about sycophants.
The present quarrel is over the party’s merger move announced by Shiv pal Yadav on June 21 with mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal (QED).
When Akhilesh Yadav was away from the State capital, he wanted the party to keep a distance from Ansari who is in jail facing serious criminal cases. He had taken a similar tough stand on the inclusion of mafia don-turned-politician DP Yadav before the 2012 Assembly election.
QED has its area of influence in the eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh but the SP parliamentary board abruptly called off the merger on June 25, with Mulayam Singh Yadav ostensibly giving in to pressure from his son . This left the uncle sulking. Akilesh Yadav also sacked the Minister who was said to have facilitated the merger but later took him back. Now, the SP is all set to embrace the QED again with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s blessings.
The political differences within the family have been simmering from day one. One group wanted Mulayam Singh Yadav to be in-charge when he Akhilesh was appointed Chief Minister. Shivpal Yadav was also aspiring to be Chief Minster and has been unable to reconcile to his secondary role.
Earlier, when Shivpal Yadav was wooing the Rashtriya lok Dal, Ram Gopal Yadav had publicly opposed it. The effort was abandoned. When Amar Singh was given a Rajya Sabha ticket, both Ramgopal Yadav and Azam Khan opposed it. Akhilesh Yadav was also not very enthusiastic.
Amidst all this, governance in Uttar Pradesh under the Samajadi Party has suffered.