The first sign of unease among the possible allies could surface when Samajwadi Party celebrates its 25th anniversary in Lucknow on November 5
The fierce family feud in the Samajwadi Party seems to be casting a shadow on the proposed 'mahagathbandhan' to counter BJP in next year's Uttar Pradesh elections. The first sign of unease among the possible allies could surface when Samajwadi Party celebrates its 25th anniversary in Lucknow on November 5.
While Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar will be skipping the function, his party was in a dilemma on whether to send a representative to Lucknow. The JD-U, which has been invited by senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav last week amidst his feud with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, was wary of becoming part of the factional politics in the Yadav family, sources said.
A party leader said it would be a "painful decision" to take as the JD-U was always in the forefront to fight "communal forces". At the same time, the JD-U was unsure whether the invite by Shivpal Yadav, who is at loggerheads with his nephew Akhilesh Yadav, had the sanction of his fragmented party.
The JD-U is also bitter about the experience of last year when the merger of six parties of Janata Parivar was foiled with Mulayam Singh walking out, after it had agreed to terms of alignment for an alliance which had even stated that the parties would fight under the SP symbol.
The party wants SP to spell out the shape of any proposed alliance before it was seen sharing dais with it, sources said. While the JD-U is yet to take a final stand on whether to attend the event, its leaders said Nitish Kumar will be unable to go to Lucknow because of Chhath festival in Bihar.
However, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, the JD-U's ally in Bihar, and JD-S leader HD Deve Gowda, whose parties have no stake in UP, could participate at SP's silver jubilee celebrations.
RLD chief Ajit Singh, a Western UP leader, was reluctant to go unless there was some clarity on the seats, sources said.
Congress's state chief Raj Babbar said he had not got any invite from the SP. Shivpal Yadav, who is organising the show, had invited JD-U, RLD, RJD, INLD and Samjwadi Janata Party, a move which was seen as a bid to showcase "like-minded" parties on a common platform.
Akhilesh is planning silver jubilee of the party in his own way by organising 'Vikas Sey Vijay Tak' rath yatra, which will begin from Lucknow on Thursday and pass through Unnao en route to Kanpur. A cavalcade of over 5,000 SUVs and trucks will send a message to the party leadership that 43-year-old Akhilesh is the "most acceptable" face of SP. The pro-CM camp, including expelled SP leaders, is working overtime to make it one of the biggest political shows of recent times, coming close on the heels of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's month-long Deoria-to-Delhi 'kisan yatra'.
Congress has ruled out joining any grand alliance in the poll bound state. "Our stand is more than clear..We have been saying '27 saal, UP behal'. Rahul Gandhi's yatra …..is not founded on lust for power but to bring new paradigm of politics in the state", Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. He said that the Congress has been holding the SP, BSP and BJP "squarely responsible" for shifting focus from the issue of development through politics of division of different kind.
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