Pressing political compulsions of facing assembly elections seemed to have forced at least a temporary truce in the feuding Yadav clan as Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal not only joined but flagged off Akhikesh Yadav's Vikas Rath Yatra in Lucknow on Thursday.
Pressing political compulsions of facing assembly elections seemed to have forced at least a temporary truce in the feuding Yadav clan as Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal not only joined but flagged off Akhikesh Yadav's Vikas Rath Yatra in Lucknow on Thursday.
Seeing red in the unexpected development, BSP supremo Mayawati immediately turned her guns from BJP to SP by debunking the Yatra as 'Badhaal Vikas (dismal development) Yatra'.
"The yatra which got off today is, in fact, the 'Badhaal Vikas Yatra' of the helpless Chief Minister entangled in controversy in the SP family and government... most of those present in it had come to blows on roads and inside the CM office during the recent family feud," she taunted.
Barring a few initial hiccups that saw supporters of two factions coming to blows, the Yadav family managed to put a united show of strength in dramatic turn of events with uncle Shivpal turning up and blessing nephew chief minister Akhilesh publicly.
"Today, this Rath Yatra is being led by Akhilesh Yadav. I have come to wish this Yatra and Akhilesh Yadav well. Our aim is to ensure that the BJP does not come to power in UP, and that the SP government return to power with a full majority in 2017," said Shivpal declaring truce at the mammoth rally.
Shivpal also appealed to the youth to rally behind Akhilesh and attend Samajwadi Party's Foundation Day programme, that also happens to be the silver jubilee, on November 5. Akhilesh echoed similar sentiment in his speech and deftly sought opposite camps of supporters to resolve their dispute that had come to the fore because of the family feud.
"There were some outside conspiracies to break up the Samajwadi Party. And it is true we got waylaid for some time. But we are now on track. This is not a case of us versus them. We are together," said Akhilesh.
Only a few days back the two camps were not ready to see each other eye to eye. Political observers who have known Mulayam's politics for long claim that this was Netaji's masterstroke of making Akhilesh more relevant in UP politics and infuse some strength in a demoralised party whose government was facing anti incumbency. The family feud drama, however, forced Akhilesh to put his campaign trail of Vikas rath yatra by exactly one month behind the original schedule.
Both father and son duo used the opportunity to pull back the withering support of Muslims and public at large by attacking BJP.
MAYA MOCKS YATRA
Lucknow: Mocking Akhilesh Yadav's campaign launched on Thursday as "badhaal vikas (dismal development) yatra", Bahujan Samaj PartySP supremo Mayawati asked the people of poll-bound UP not to be misled by it and claimed that the feud within the Samajwadi Party was far from over. "The yatra which got off today is in fact the 'badhaal vikas yatra' of the helpless Chief Minister entangled in controversy in the SP family and government," said Mayawati.
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