Peace efforts in Samajwadi Party suffered a major setback on Sunday with Mulayam Singh Yadav questioning the legality of the January 1 convention held by the rival faction which ousted him as president and appointed his son Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in his place. With time running out for a “truce”, the Akhilesh faction is preparing to contest the election on the ‘motorcycle’ symbol, if the Election Commission of India (ECI) were to freeze the SP’s symbol ‘cycle’.
Asserting that he was still the national president of the party, Mulayam claimed the January 1 national convention called by his cousin Ramgopal Yadav was “illegal” as he as party president had already expelled him from the party on December 30.
“I am the national president of Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav is (only) the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Shivpal Yadav is still the president of Samajwadi Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit,” Mulayam told reporters here.
“Ramgopal Yadav was expelled from the party for six years on December 30, 2016. Therefore the party’s national convention called by him on January 1, 2017 was illegal,” he asserted.
Ramgopal, who has been backing Akhilesh in the internecine feud in the
party, had convened the meeting in his capacity as SP general secretary.
Mulayam is likely to visit the Election Commission on Monday to stake claim over the party’s name and election symbol ‘cycle’. Monday is the deadline set by the EC for both the sides to submit documents before it decides which faction has genuine claim over the symbol.
On Saturday, the Akhilesh faction submitted to the EC affidavits claimed to have been signed by 90 per cent of legislators and delegates, including over 200 of the 229 MlAs backing the Chief Minister.
However, adding fuel to the fire, Amar Singh, who is part of the opposing Mulayam faction, claimed the signatures were forged. “The signatures of support are forged and hence their authenticity is doubtful,” said Amar Singh, who is said to be the cause of the rift in the Yadav family. He further said that proving support isn’t a pre-condition to appropriating the party symbol, a ‘cycle’, in case of a split.
However, reports from lucknow said that even though the fight inside SP intensified over the symbol, the Akhilesh camp did not look unduly perturbed as it has reportedly made up its mind to opt for ‘motorcycle’, the free symbol available with the EC as the new election symbol of the party.
“We want the ‘cycle’ as our election symbol. But if by any chance we are not able to get that, we will opt for the motorcycle as it will help us to tell voters our progress from cycle to motorcycle,” a senior SP leader told The Pioneer on Sunday.
“We know there can be some problem in getting the `cycle’ as election symbol. If the fight intensifies, the EC can freeze this symbol. In that case, we will opt for motorcycle as election symbol. We have done our homework. We are told that it is free and available,” the SP leader said.
The Akhilesh camp has also prepared the blueprint of its ‘motorcycle-centric’ campaign. It will center around progress from `cycle’ to `motorcycle’. “We start with cycle and then switch over to motorcycle when we progress in life,” he said.
What about telling voters - a good section of them illiterate - about the change in symbol of the SPIJ
The Akhilesh camp has its plan ready here too. “We have human and technological reach in 98 per cent households in UP. In a few days every SP voter will come to know about the new symbol,” he said.
The confidence of the Akhilesh camp comes from the fact that a clever communication campaign has been launched by Harvard Professor Steve Jardings, who through his volunteers has reached every rural household of UP.
lakhs of party volunteers have been recruited as Samajwadi Vikas Yojana Pramuks who are educating villagers about Government schemes like Samajwadi Pension Yojana, 102/108 Ambulance Yojana and Kaamdhenu Yojana. These pramukhs act as a conduit between villagers and Government agencies. If any villager has a complaint they pass it on to the district administration and once these are rectified they are told that Akhilesh Yadav has done this.
“These Pramukhs will come handy in case Akhilesh opts for a new election symbol. Besides that we have our own party structure which will help in disseminating news about the new symbol,” the leader said.