Can Akhilesh Yadav ever show daddy Mulayam he's the boss?

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav surprised everyone when he brought his aggressive side to the fore recently.

The manner in which he sought to defy his father Mulayam Singh Yadav as well as his all powerful "chacha" Shivpal Yadav to oppose the entry of dreaded Eastern UP mafia don-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari into the Samajwadi Party took everyone back to 2012, when the UP chief minister had got into a similar combative mode to stall the entry of DP Yadav, a don from Western UP.

He single-handedly succeeded in keeping the infamous Yadav out of Samajwadi Party worked like magic in boosting his image to the extent that he began to be seen as the torchbearer of the generational change in the character of the party that was traditionally seen as a haven for outlaws.

And that was what gave the party a surge that went far beyond the expectations of Samajwadi Party bigwigs, leading to the installation of the then 38-year-old Akhilesh as the youngest chief minister in the history of India's most populous state.

Sadly, however, there was no demonstrative action on his part in the four years that followed to show that he was in command until what he did on June 25 - when he decided to warn his overbearing peers (in the family) that "enough is enough".

What propelled him to get into the "better late than never" mode was the next state election knocking at his doors.

Akhilesh realised that any association with somebody like Mukhtar Ansari would not only sully his reputation, but also negate all the good work that he had been able to do at the end of four years in office.

Also read - Akhilesh-Shivpal Yadav fight has exposed ugly reality of Samajwadi Party

His father and uncle had refused to buy that argument and chose to go ahead with what they called the "merger" of Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal with the Samajwadi Party. His defiance eventually paid dividends and the father-uncle duo had to succumb to Akhilesh's wishes.

What however left everyone still wondering was whether Akhilesh - the only credible face of the party now - would continue to be allowed to have his way.

Barely 48 hours after that, the fresh Cabinet did not have any semblance of Akhilesh's assertive self.

Of the five new faces inducted into the council of ministers, none were of Akhilesh's choosing.

In fact, it was Akhilesh loyalist Manoj Kumar Pandey who happened to be only minister to be dropped. Pandey , who was entrusted with the science and technology portfolio, had left no stone unturned to please Mulayam; he even went on to organise a "maha yagya" two years ago to ensure the SP chief was made the prime minister.

Now that Pandey's black magic has failed to deliver what he had promised, Mulayam has decided to show him the door.

His ouster left a maximum of five vacancies in the council of ministers.

While one of the berths was reserved for Balram Yadav, who was removed unceremoniously last week for being party to Shivpal Yadav's liaison with Mukhtar Ansari, another berth went to former minister Narad Rai, who too had been dropped.

Also read - Shivpal Yadav may have crossed a line this time with nephew Akhilesh

Ravidas Mehrotra, Sharda Prasad Shukla and Ziauddin Rizvi were the three new faces, associated directly with Mulayam.

So where does that leave Akhilesh - who until 24 hours ago was beginning to be seen as SP's He-Man?

Visibly, some kind of a compromise seems to have been struck between son and father. If Akhilesh was allowed to have his way with Mukhtar Ansari, it must have been at the cost of giving up his claim to nominate someone to the council of ministers.

Shivpal Yadav, who had to eat the humble pie over the Mukhtar Ansari issue, chose to showcase his annoyance by skipping the June 27 swearing-in ceremony. He slipped away to Etawah on the pretext of a pre-engagement when in fact he could not take his first major showdown before his nephew Akhilesh.

Another showdown between the two was waiting in the wings. And the issue was the appointment of UP's chief secretary on June 30, when the incumbent's term would come to an end.

Shivpal has been lobbying for a highly ill-reputed and allegedly "corrupt" IAS officer who holds a key position in one of the multiple ministries under him. In this mission he also has the backing of the state's most powerful IAS officer Anita Singh, who was handpicked by Mulayam as the chief minister's principal secretary.

Akhilesh wants to choose someone with a clean image for the top bureaucratic position. Having already drawn much flak on account of his "poor grip over law and order", which was pronounced during last month's incidents at Mathura, sure enough Akhilesh was keen to avoid any other taint at this juncture.

But the next 72 hours will determine whether the "enemy within" will have a stranglehold on him or the re-invented assertive Akhilesh have his way.