Intrigues in SP rattle UP as elections near
A lot is clearly happening that would make political pundits do a rethink about the way the dice turns.
Just months before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, whose result is likely to impact the scenario in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Samajwadi Party seems to be staring at an organisational crisis unless a last-minute patch-up can be effected in the Yadav clan, which virtually owns the party. Akhilesh Yadav’s government may also encounter some serious turbulence unless fence-mending saves the day. The CM’s father, SP founder and patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, has wittingly or unwittingly (we don’t know which) set off the troubles. It is evident anyway that deep chasms exist in UP’s ruling party. The SP’s rivals — BJP, Mayawati’s BSP and Congress — will probably have to recalibrate their strategies to gain from the SP’s difficulties. It also remains to be seen if the SP factionalises without actually splitting, and whether a faction, or factions, works for accommodation, overtly or covertly, with any of the other three principal parties in the fray.
Although a dramatic outcome, a split — in fact, if not formally — can’t be ruled out at this stage. A lot is clearly happening that would make political pundits do a rethink about the way the dice turns. Palace intrigues are extraordinary things, and are apt to distort likely outcomes. Six months before the Assembly polls, Mulayam Singh Yadav divested his CM son Akhilesh of the state party chief’s post and gave the latter to his brother Shivpal. This has a bearing on candidates’ selection for the polls, among other matters. The CM, in retaliation, stripped uncle Shivpal, seen as the number two in his government, of all but one (minor) portfolio, signifying a rebellion against his father and uncle. But matters were going off course even earlier.
On corruption charges, only earlier this week, the CM had dismissed two Cabinet ministers thought to be close to his father. He also suddenly replaced the state chief secretary on Tuesday. The civil servant was considered close to the CM’s uncle, and to Amar Singh, a top political fixer who was expelled by Mulayam Singh from the party but was brought back a few months ago. Will the CM move closer to Azam Khan, a key Muslim leader and Amar Singh’s bête noir, but a dodgy customer? Is it possible Akhilesh will throw more friendship hints to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi? The CM said last week that if Mr Gandhi visited UP more often, they could be “friends”. Or will the patriarch Mulayam seek to replace his own son as CM? Akhilesh is credited with some infrastructure building and is said to want to rid the SP of its “pro-criminal” image. Is some of the play meant going that way? Suddenly things look very different in UP.