While many were expecting changes after the Bihar election results, the SP high command has decided to go ahead with cleaning house.
After the Akhilesh Yadav government reshuffled several ministries in the UP cabinet, a massive shake up in the state bureaucracy and party machinery is likely, reports Hindustan Times.
The exercise will be carried out at the behest of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, and with an eye on the 2017 state elections. It is said that the reshuffle was pending since the SP won just 5 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
While many were expecting changes after the Bihar election results, the SP high command has decided to go ahead with cleaning house.
The move has also denied the BJP from going on a poaching spree. According to HT, many of its leaders were in touch with SP ministers and were planning to poach them after winning the Bihar elections. But the SP feels that the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance has the upper hand in Bihar elections.
The SP's logic is the following. One, voters are more amenable to the party with a declared chief ministerial nominee. Second, the caste card works better if combined with a leader’s personal image. Holding the grand alliance in good stead so far has been Nitish's image of probity and performance along with RJD chief Lalu Prasad's Yadav vote bank.
Mulayam knows that while the BJP lacks a credible face in the state — Narendra Modi’s popularity eventually may not help in the state elections — Mayawati's image of an able administrator is still keeping the BSP in the reckoning apart from the voters' strong desire for change every five years. UP has seen the SP and BSP control power alternatively for two decades.
Mulayam Singh believes that while he was the face of the party in the 2012 assembly elections, it is his son, Akhilesh, who will be pitted against Mayawati or Modi in 2017. There have been persistent allegations that while Akhilesh is the CM, real power lies in Mulayam's hands. Mulayam Singh has to change this perception if Akhilesh is to cultivate the image of a strong and independent leader, said the HT report.
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