Yadav vs Yadav: Tug-of-war in the family

It is not unusual for the Samajwadi Party supremo, Mulayam Singh Yadav, to indulge in theatrics and gimmickry especially when crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are only a few months away. Many other politicians do it too with characteristic guile.

When Mulayam divested his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav of the state party chief’s charge and handed the key post to his brother, Shivpal Yadav, there was a feeling among political observers that it must be the familiar family drama at play to raise his son’s and the party’s stock in a difficult election.

But contrary to the thinking then, Shivpal has been confirmed in the party chief’s chair while Akhilesh is left sulking at his uncle’s one-upmanship.

Akhilesh did try to upstage Shivpal, divesting him of all except one innocuous portfolio, but he was forced to hand back all but one portfolio which Shivpal had been divested of. An angry Akhilesh refused to restore the PWD portfolio to his uncle which the latter was itching to get back. It is common knowledge that the public works department charge is much coveted because it is considered lucrative and can be used to good effect in an election year.

Apparently, Mulayam, torn as he is between love for his son and for his brother has sub-consciously a perceptible generation gap with son Akhilesh. He is not confident that, lacking as he does the guiles and political sagacity of Shivpal, he (Akhilesh) would be able to ensure victory for the party in the face of challenges from the BJP (which had virtually swept the Lok Sabha elections in UP in 2014), the Bahujan Samaj Party and to a lesser extent the Congress. He apparently considers Shivpal a better bet in steering the party during a crucial phase.

There is no denying, however, that in the truce that has been called between Shivpal and Akhilesh, there are seeds of discord which could come out into the open closer to the elections when ticket distribution is on. That could well jeopardize the chances of the Samajwadi Party returning to power.

The manner in which in his new avatar as party chief, Shivpal summarily sacked seven party functionaries, including three MLCs, all considered close to Akhilesh, added salt to the latter’s festering wounds. That the expulsions ostensibly came with the blessings of Mulayam rankled Akhilesh no end. The cause for the expulsions was given out as making “derogatory remarks” against Mulayam, indulging in anti-party activities and indiscipline, according to a party statement. The net result of all this was that it lowered Akhilesh’s clout in party circles.

After assuming charge as SP Uttar Pradesh unit president, Shivpal Yadav had also expelled a close relative of senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, a cousin of Mulayam who holds fort for the party in Parliament and has aligned himself with Akhilesh in the battle for stakes between him and Shivpal.  

Flush as Akhilesh is with power and acutely conscious as he is that he is virtually indispensable to the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming elections because of his squeaky clean image in contrast to Shivpal’s, Akhilesh will predictably seek to extract his pound of flesh at an appropriate time. For now, however, he has swallowed his pride and decided to lie low, especially seeing the attitude of his father.

Clearly, there is another battle for supremacy in the Samajwadi Party emerging, between Akhilesh and Shivpal’s son, Aditya Yadav, who is a late entrant into the race but is now being aggressively propped up by father Shivpal as a counterpoise to Akhilesh. 

At present Aditya is area in-charge for the Jaswantnagar Assembly (Lok Sabha constituency — Mainpuri) and holds the office of UP Pradeshik Cooperative Federation as Chairman. But father Shivpal has much bigger plans for him. He wants to see him in the chief ministerial chair sooner than later.

Evidently, that is at the root of Shivpal’s growing show of disenchantment with Akhilesh and while he knows that he cannot be one up on Mulayam, he is trying to win over his brother by fuelling new prejudices against Akhilesh and projecting him as an upstart and not fully conversant with high-level politics.

It is well on the cards that having been anointed as party chief for UP, Shivpal would like to monopolize ticket distribution to Samajwadi Party nominees for the assembly elections. He would do everything possible to pack in his preferred nominees and that would sharpen his divide with Akhilesh. What attitude Mulayam will adopt would indeed be crucial in the run-up to the polls.

There is also the issue of the wily Amar Singh who was recently welcomed back into the party which had expelled him. Akhilesh has made no bones about his antipathy towards Amar while Shivpal is cultivating Amar to upstage Akhilesh. Mulayam sees Amar as a wheeler-dealer but wants to use him to forge better contacts.

Mulayam reckons, with his earthy wisdom, that any move to weaken Akhilesh would weaken the party which is riding on his youth pull and his general acceptability as a dynamic and upright leader. Shivpal is a good organiser and has grassroots support but he is no match for Akhilesh’s charisma.

There is indeed a noticeable wedge between Mulayam and Akhilesh as it appears. The latest piece of news that Amar has been elevated to the post of national general secretary of the party by Mulayam when Akhilesh was keen that he be thrown out of the party once again, is significant. 

Evidently, the father is out to discipline the son. But with elections not far away Mulayam has to reckon with the substantial youth vote which Akhilesh commands. It is indeed a tight-rope walk for Mulayam.

The author is a political analyst