Sources say that ultimately it is the Yadav family which has to take a call on this issue.
All indications emerging from the Samajwadi Party (SP) point to the possibility of the Yadav family scion Akhilesh being crowned the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Sources say that ultimately it is the Yadav family which has to take a call on this issue, and that now it has been settled that this is the right time to pole-vault the junior Yadav into the CM’s chair.
Apart from the Yadav chieftain Mulayam Singh, his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and his cousin and SP general secretary Prof Ramgopal Yadav, known to be the party’s think-tank, are reported to have reached a consensus that the family can carry off the gambit because of the huge mandate that the people of UP have given the SP.
The sources say some senior leaders, mainly Shivpal Yadav and the party’s Muslim face Azam Khan, had their reservations about the propriety and justification of crowning Akhilesh the chief minister of the country’s politically most crucial stage at such a young age.
But, Mulayam is reported to have prevailed over these objections. A senior party leader close to the SP president revealed that the patriarch himself wanted Akhilesh to take over the responsibility due to his own failing health.
Also, Mulayam wants to concentrate on the Lok Sabha elections due in 2014, the leader added. “In this party, once ‘Netaji’ decides something, there is little anyone else can do to get it changed,” the SP leader remarked. In any case, the party’s parliamentary board had already authorised Mulayam to take a final decision on who should take over the reins of power in UP.
Party sources say the gap of three days between the election results and the SP Legislature Party (SPLP) meeting was carefully planned to give the SP supremo enough time to iron out any differences within the party over the issue of chief ministership.
On Friday, Akhilesh, when asked about who would be the new UP CM, himself said that the decision would be taken at the SPLP meeting scheduled for Saturday. This is the first time since the results came in that Akhilesh has deviated from parroting his statement that ‘Netaji’ would be CM.
Akhilesh also told reporters on Friday that the SP had taken a strong view of the incidents of violence involving party workers at several places in UP since the results had come in. “The law will take its course and no miscreant will be spared regardless of whether he is a SP worker or leader,” he asserted. He also said that there was a conspiracy to defame the new dispensation. “I am aware that some officials associated with the previous regime are involved in this. We will take firm action,” he said.
Mulayam also summoned UP police chief Atul and chief secretary Anoop Mishra to discuss the law and order situation in the state. The officials are learnt to have been given clear directions to ensure that the elements involved in these incidents are punished.
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