Mulayam cannot afford to take Akhilesh Yadav for granted anymore

The internecine war currently raging within the Samajwadi Party is essentially a battle for Mulayam Singh Yadav's political legacy between his son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and the SP supremo's younger brother Shivpal Yadav.

Adding spice to the conflict is the irrepressible Amar Singh.

The current crisis is a spillover from the time he was admitted into Samajwadi Party much against the wishes of a powerful section of the party, including the CM, Ramgopal Yadav and Azam Khan.

Mulayam Singh Yadav had so far managed to paper over the contradictions within his family and the party by virtue of being the patriarch of the family and the founder of the party.

His word was law, and willy-nilly the rank and file fell in line once he made his choice clear - whether it was the question of tying up with Kalyan Singh, which incidentally cost him dearly, or appointing Akhilesh as the chief minister superseding Shivpal and Azam Khan in 2012.

However, recent events, especially after the reinduction of Amar Singh into the party, followed by the controversy over Quami Ekta Dal's merger with the party, have brought the fault-lines within the party and the family to the fore.

Akhilesh Yadav has always been deferential to his father. He has, to a great extent, implemented his father's wishes, whether in appointments to key positions in the state administration, or in policy decisions.  On more than one occasion, Mulayam Singh Yadav has mixed up his role as the father and the party chief by choosing to reprimand the CM in public, all of which the CM has put up with a grin.

The dynamics of the father-son relationship has begun to alter, ever so slowly. For four years and more, Akhilesh Yadav put up with his father's callous disregard for the fact that he was the chief minister, as well as Shivpal and Azam Khan's tantrums in the government and their attempts to meddle in the decision making process.

He swallowed his pride, put up with the slights and soldiered on, out of respect for his father, whether it was on the question of reinducting Amar Singh into the party or sending him to the Rajya Sabha.

The first strains were evident on the question of the merger of the Quami Ekta Dal into the SP. The Uttar Pradesh CM was also the state party chief at that time but he was merely informed not consulted on the merger. A month later Mulayam Singh Yadav made him relent on the issue.

The latest straw was the appointment of the controversial and loudmouthed Deepak Singhal as the chief secretary of the state. Forced by his father to appoint him, the CM decided to sack him after the latter attended Amar Singh's dinner.

Mulayam Singh's decision to unceremoniously replace him as the state party chief with Shivpal Yadav was the last straw. In return, Akhilesh stripped his uncle of most of his ministries, thereby drawing a new line in the battle for supremacy within the party.

Mulayam Singh Yadav has so far managed to manage the contradictions within the family and the party, and it is quite likely that he may do so even now.

But it will at best be a temporary truce, the fault-lines have deepened and the fear in SP circles is that the next time around, it could get worse.  

Also read: Akhilesh-Shivpal Yadav rift: Hope for political shift or another nail in UP's coffin?

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