Ambushed by Mulayam, Akhilesh Yadav may not hesitate to go solo in UP
There is no end to the acrimony accruing in the first family of the Samajwadi Party, with beleaguered UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav firing one salvo after another at his father Mulayam Singh and uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.
In a letter addressed to his father Mulayam Singh, Akhilesh wrote: “We had decided to start Samajwadi Vikas Rath Yatra from October 3, to formally launch the campaign for the upcoming Assembly election in 2017. However, due to some reason, it could not be launched. Right now every political party is busy in their campaign. In lieu of that, to form the next government, and to campaign on the plank of ‘from development to victory’, I am going to start Samajwadi Vikas Rath Yatra from November 3. Details of this programme will be sent to district presidents and supporters of Samajwadi Party from time to time.”
Coming in the backdrop of a virtual revolt by a section of youth leaders of the Samajwadi Party against the supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the import of the letter makes it amply clear that no rapprochement looks possible in the near horizon as far as the war between the two camps – with Akhilesh on one side and Mulayam-Shivpal duo on the other – is concerned.
In Samajwadi Party circle, this letter by Akhilesh Yadav is being seen as an open defiance and virtually sending an ultimatum to his father that if things don’t improve, then he won’t hesitate to go all alone.
On Tuesday (October 18), a group of youth leaders, mainly from the frontal organisations considered close to UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, had issued a press release threatening to boycott the silver jubilee celebrations of the party on November 5.
In the press release, this group of leaders said that a meeting was attended by several young MLCs, senior leaders of the Yuvjan Sabha (student wing) and other wings, and they passed a motion to boycott the celebrations that were announced last week by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
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| There is no end to the acrimony accruing in the first family of the Samajwadi Party. (Photo: PTI) |
This was in the backdrop of an important meeting with SP vice president Kiranmoy Nanda with Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow. After the meeting, Nanda said: “Assembly elections are near and SP needs to go to the polls with full strength. In such a scenario, it is the need of the hour to revoke expulsion of youth leaders.” The fact that this statement came from known Mulayam loyalist Kiranmay Nanda was not lost on anybody.
The timing of this letter is also crucial.
Coming a day after the press release by Akhilesh loyalists saying that they would give the silver jubilee celebrations a miss, the young UP CM too has in a way joined them by announcing his Rath Yatra from November 3. The yatra will make sure that he too gives the celebration a miss.
The letter is a clear message that reconciliation, till some moot changes are made, is next to impossible.
SP leaders, close to Mulayam Singh, see the press release and the letter released by Akhilesh Yadav as a virtual sign of mutiny and further hardening of stands between father and son.
According to one such leader, if these youth leaders belonging to frontal organisations had apologised to Mulayam and waited for their turn, it would have been a completely different scenario.
But issuing a press release and threatening to boycott the silver jubilee celebrations doesn’t work with Mulayam. These people don’t understand that they are here because of Mulayam Singh Yadav and not the other way around.
While the SP supremo admitted that the whole expulsion and threat of boycott brouhaha will come at an electoral price, he nevertheless said that now it has become a “nak ki ladai” [a battle of prestige] and no side will backtrack.
A senior SP leader added: “The press release and this letter by Akhilesh have in a way killed any chance of rapprochement between the two warring sides.”
This further hardening of stands is also, ominously enough, pointing towards a situation which nobody wants to admit openly in SP.
Will this lead to a break-up in Samajwadi Party or will this feud keep on festering within both sides, damaging each other but still remaining in the same orbit?
This is one question which no SP loyalist wants to answer right now.
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