Lucknow: Another widely-anticipated political move was afoot in Uttar Pradesh with Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav stepping up efforts to reunite estranged brother Shivpal with son Akhilesh in order to ensure the party’s future.
Throughout the day on June 5, as political leaders exchanged Eid greetings, Mulayam was in the family village of Saifai in Etawah district, where his brother Shivpal Yadav and Mulayam’s son Akhilesh were also supposed to meet for a family-cum-political stocktaking. There were reports that a late evening announcement could also be likely about the rapprochement.
However, no one in the party or among family members confirmed any such move, and in fact some individuals positively denied any such initiative, which had been expected after the Lok Sabha results dealt a blow to the SP. Even though at the end of the day nothing of the sort could be confirmed, there are indications that intense discussions are underway among family members to find a way to keep the party relevant in state politics and keep its workers enthused enough to prepare for challenges ahead.
The SP suffered badly in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election, winning only five seats despite being in a pre-poll alliance with long-time rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and now-off, now-on ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The alliance helped the BSP win 10 seats against its zero score in 2014 election, maintained the 2014 figure of zero for the RLD, and reduced SP’s tally of 8 (5 in 2014 general election and three in later by-elections) to five. The SP faced further ignominy of Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav losing from Kannauj, and his cousins Dharmendra and Akshay losing from Badayun and Ferozabad, respectively. These three Yadav-dominated seats had been with the SP for a long time, held by family members.
The BSP, while staging a remarkable comeback, also asserted its dominance over the SP in the alliance which had seen its leader Mayawati calling the shots from day one. Despite this, Mayawati seized the initiative in blaming Akhilesh for the poor show of the alliance. While Akhilesh was on a thanksgiving visit to Azamgarh, Mayawati blamed Akhilesh for losing his clout among the Yadav community leading to the defeat of Dimple and other family members, and also announced that she would keep the alliance on hold for some time. She also announced that BSP would contest the 11 by-elections to the state Assembly on its own.
This left Akhilesh acutely embarrassed and with no opportunity to say that the alliance had in fact caused more damage to his SP, rather than being unable to push up the BSP’s tally. In fact Akhilesh was hard-pressed when asked for his response to Mayawati’s announcement regarding the alliance’s future with a lame comment: “if this is so, I welcome it.”
Mulayam Singh Yadav had been wary of not only the alliance with BSP but also with the Congress prior to the 2017 Assembly election. Despite he and Mayawati appearing together on an election meeting platform, he had been nursing doubts over what the tie-up would yield to the SP. Immediately after the election results, he not only attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony on May 30 (while Akhilesh and Mayawati stayed away), but also initiated efforts for a course correction in the party.
It is widely believed that Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Yadav had been largely responsible for strengthening SP’s cadre, grassroots connectivity and expansion all over the state. In a much-publicised fall-out in early 2017, Shivpal had walked out of the party as Akhilesh consolidated his hold over the party. Shivpal later last year formed his own party by the name of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) and contested 50 seats in the state. Although he did not win any seat, he managed to dent the prospects of SP candidates in most of them.
Now, Mulayam is reported to be trying hard to bring Shivpal and Akhilesh together so that the party can have a chance of being taken seriously in state politics.
According to sources, Mulayam’s old associates in the party and outside have been trying to persuade Shivpal to return to SP, while convincing Akhilesh that this would be best in party’s interest.
However, a senior leader in PSP-L said Shivpal had come a long way after leaving SP, and formed his own party. Shivpal’s possible return to SP would mean ditching those erstwhile SP leaders dissatisfied with Akhilesh who had been accommodated in PSP-L.
On the other hand, sources in SP admit that the party had suffered because there was no one in it with the kind of vast organisational experience that Shivpal had. They maintained that Shivpal’s return alone could help SP regain its composure and strength to provide a challenge to the BJP and also the BSP in future elections.
It is also learnt that Akhilesh was not ready for any rapprochement with Shivpal as he not only blamed him for the unsavoury feud in the family and party in 2017, but also for the defeat of his wife and cousins in the recent elections. Shivpal himself had contested from Firozabad from where Akshay, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, was the sitting MP. Although Shivpal failed to win, he also ensured Akshay’s defeat, leading to BJP’s victory from there.
Incidentally, the ideological and other differences between Shivpal and Ram Gopal Yadav are among major reasons for the family fall-out. At present Ram Gopal is said to be the main political advisor to Akhilesh, and this could be one of the obstacles to the patch-up bid. It may take more than Mulayam’s persuasion and advice for reconciliation between estranged son and uncle.
