Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh had a long meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday evening. This was just after the sacking of Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal considered close to both Singh and Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal.
Singhal's removal, it was said, has sent a wrong signal to the cadres. It would be perceived that Shivpal, the organisation man in the party, has been weakened in the elections year. Shivpal, it was suggested, be compensated with additional charge of the state SP president.
Within hours of the decision, an official communique addressed to Shivpal and signed by General Secretary and Mulayam’s cousin Ram Gopal Yadav was issued. A copy was marked to CM Akhilesh as well.
It was then that the Chief Minister decided to strike back and strike back hard. In a tit-for-tat, he striped uncle Shivpal of key ministerial portfolios. Shivpal was defanged within hours of organisational elevation.Also read: Rift in Yadav Family Gets Wider, Shivpal Demands His Portfolios Back
However, what appears to be an act of retaliation is turning out to be a well thought out game-plan on the part of Mulayam junior to break the familial shackles. So much so that interference both in government and organisation has over the last four years has earned him the moniker of being the fifth CM after father and uncles who continued to call shots despite Akhilesh being at the helm.
Akhilesh’s gambit this time around is premised on two factors.
Firstly, just six months ahead of the elections, Akhilesh knows all too well that the party cannot do without him. Shivpal undoubtedly remains a darling of the cadre. Emulating Mulayam and his old style politics, he’s earned personal loyalty from a large section of the workers. All this notwithstanding, neither he, not Mulayam himself cannot be the CM candidate of the party now.
Consequently, the party in the election mode also can’t send a message that it has weakened its CM candidate. The confrontation at this point in time suits Akhilesh.Also Read: Akhilesh Yadav Plays Down Rift With Shivpal, Says Will Go By Mulayam's Orders
Which is probably why he decided to send across a powerful message both to the party and people in general- that he is in command. Some see it as a redux of DP Yadav episode ahead of the 2012 polls when as CM candidate he put his foot down against induction of don turned politician DP Yadav into the party.
The DP Yadav episode bolstered SP’s prospects to catapult Akhilesh as the CM. For a party which has built its politics on caste and minority mobilisation, it was a new experiment of sorts.
It was precisely for this reason that Akhilesh opposed merger of Mukhtar Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Dal with the SP - a move which was initiated by uncle Shivpal. The merger would have demolished the entire electoral narrative of the party for the upcoming polls; and also his own personal image.
The family feud in the party is as much a manifestation of a clash between old guards and the new-SP, as it is of the unsettled leadership issues after Mulayam.
Only this time around, Mulayam’s son, seems to have asserted to make an example out of his own uncle to underscore the generational transformation in the party.
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