Another son rise, this seems to be Samajwadi Party’s reply to the ascent of the Gandhi family scions — Rahul and Varun.
Another son rise, this seems to be Samajwadi Party’s reply to the ascent of the Gandhi family scions — Rahul and Varun. SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav named his son and MP Akhilesh as the party’s UP president on Wednesday. Akhilesh is 36, while Rahul is 39 and Varun 29.
While making his choice, Mulayam was perhaps inspired by Rahul Gandhi’s sterling performance in the recent election, especially in galvanising the youth to vote Congress. The BJP has also projected Varun Gandhi as their poster boy during the election.
Mulayam has turned 70 now, and his younger brother UP MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav was hitherto the state unit president. The move is seen as Mulayam’s bid to establish Akhilesh as his successor.
However, Mulayam denied this. “Where is the question of succession... I am national president and he [Akhilesh] is state president... I have not handed over my position to him,” he said in Delhi after the decision was announced.
The dynastic succession from a party which at its inception fought against such politics did not surprise many but questions were raised. Akhilesh said, “Such questions were raised when I contested my first Lok Sabha elections, and even now such questions are being put to me. I have never enjoyed the privilege of being in power. When have I ever been made minister or part of a government?”
The official version given by the SP is that since Mulayam had resigned his UP Assembly seat to focus on national politics,and state president Shivpal Singh Yadav had been made Leader of the Opposition in the UP Assembly, and so the party’s state unit needed a new leader.
For his part, Akhilesh has proved his worth. In 2004, he won the Kannauj seat, while this time he won from Ferozabad and Kannauj.
Akhilesh has been active on the organisational front too. He has been the national in-charge of the party’s student and youth wings for many years during which he has developed these organisations into real fighting machines.
In the party’s movements against the Mayawati regime, it’s the cadres of these outfits who are at the forefront.
In SP circles, the announcement has not come as a surprise. “He is the best choice,” said Om Prakash Singh, general secretary.
Though Mulayam has another son with his second wife, he has never encouraged him to enter politics or involved him in the party. He has obviously played the ‘youth card’ with the 2012 UP Assembly election in mind.
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