SP family drama: All eyes are on wily Mulayam

All eyes are set on Mulayam Singh Yadav who is expected to take the call on the fate of his own baby - the Samajwadi Party – caught in a quagmire of petty politicking and ready to trigger a major split.

The ongoing crisis in the party deepened on Sunday, with salvos being fired at each other by the two warring sides led by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav. Ironically, the party was readying itself to celebrate its silver jubilee early next month.

The alleged villain of the piece, Amar Singh, who not very long ago staged a comeback in the party from where he was exiled for six years, remained conspicuous by his absence. 

However, party patriarch, the wily Mulayam, seemed to be still keeping his cards close to his chest as far as his son was concerned. Even though Akhilesh went all out in training his guns on uncle Shivpal, whom he dropped unceremoniously from his cabinet together with his (Shivpal's) three close loyalists, Mulayam was still sitting pretty on Shivpal’s demand to sack Akhilesh as chief minister.

While Mulayam convened a meeting of all party legislators and MPs on Monday, he is still trying to play the balancing act between the warring groups of his family and party alike.

Instead of initiating action against a defiant Akhilesh, who decided to tell him that enough was enough and that he would not take it lying down from anyone, including the father, Mulayam chose to take on the softer target – his cousin and the party’s national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav who is supposed to be Akhilesh’s friend, philosopher and guide.

Ram Gopal’s expulsion from the party for six years was announced by none other than Shivpal in his capacity as state president of the party. Ironically, it was Ram Gopal who was responsible for showing Amar Singh the door in 2009.

Despite Akhilesh and Azam Khan, who stood by Ram Gopal in the mission to keep Amar out, the scheming Amar not only managed to stage his return to the party as late as May 2016, but also insured that he got his erstwhile coveted position of national general secretary restored.

However, Sunday’s developments in Lucknow included an open tirade against Amar Singh, whose posters were torn and burnt in front of the chief minister’s residence by Akhilesh's supporters who, besides terming Singh a “BJP tout”, also openly demanded his ouster from the party again.

The day began with Akhilesh’s second uncle Ram Gopal (Mulayam’s first cousin) shooting off a circular to all party workers, appealing to them to stick with Akhilesh.

Without naming anyone, he described Akhilesh’s rival camp as a lobby of “opportunists”, whom he alleged were indulging in rampant corruption and making money. That was clearly seen as an indirect attack on both Shivpal and Amar Singh.

What followed was a flurry of activity in and around the SP state headquarters as well as the residences of different SP leaders heading their respective warring groups.

Even as Shivpal was figuring out his strategy in consultation with Mulayam, Akhilesh dropped the bombshell of sacking Shivpal and three other ministers – Shadab Fatima, Om Prakash Singh and Narad Rai – all known for their proximity to the "chacha".

In addition, filmstar-turned-politician Jaya Prada, considered very close to Amar Singh, was also sacked from the top position in the state’s film development corporation, by virtue of which she had been conferred the rank of cabinet minister.

What had provoked Akhilesh to have it out with Shivpal, with whom he had a cold war for four-and-a-half years, was the earlier day’s action by the uncle against several party officebearers close to Akhilesh.

Shivpal reacted by instantly giving up the official vehicle in which he had driven down to Mulayam’s house and preferred to drive out in his personal car straight to the neighbouring party office, where a large number of party workers were awaiting him.

Initially, he chose to remain discreet and in his address to partymen, he sought to train his guns indirectly at his cousin Ram Gopal. But barely an hour later, while addressing the media, he blurted out all his pent-up venom against the older cousin, with whom he had not seen eye-to-eye for quite sometime.

Shivpal went to the extent of terming Ram Gopal a “BJP agent”. As if that was not enough, he further accused him of striking a deal with the BJP to save his skin in the CBI probe against corrupt NOIDA engineer-in-chief Yadav Singh. “Ram Gopal’s MP son and daughter-in-law are in cahoots with Yadav Singh,” alleged Shivpal.

Shivpal looked quite jubilant with the action against Ram Gopal, which seemed like another balancing act by Mulayam - he knew well that any action against a “soft target” like the party’s Rajya Sabha leader Ram Gopal would not have any major repercussion as he was always known as the back-room boy and not a grassroots man.

At the same time, the idea was obviously to convey a message to Akhilesh who banks heavily on Ram Gopal for his political inputs.

Now, since the ouster of Ram Gopal had left Akhilesh high and dry, he was bound to seek his pound of flesh in the form of Amar Singh’s scalp. Whether Mulayam would concede to the suddenly assertive son’s demand is a million dollar question.

Much could also depend on the feedback he gets at the crucial meeting of party legislators, MPs and other senior functionaries convened at the party office on Monday.

Mulayam may have to give in to the popular sentiment that could be for Amar Singh’s ouster. But analysts do not rule out the possibility of Mulayam himself taking over the reins of governance from the son, in the hope that such a move would not upset the SP apple-cart. But whether Akhilesh would take that lying down is to be seen.

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