Mulayam,enigmatic as ever

After the DMK pullout,even those closest to the SP chief have no clue what his next move will be

Not even his closest aides have a clue how Mulayam Singh Yadav will move in the wake of the DMKs pullout from the UPA. Keeping everyone guessing is characteristic of the wily politician whenever the stakes are high,as is the case now with the Congress-led governments survival depending on what he chooses to do.

How close he keeps his cards to his chest,leaving even close aides in the dark,was on display during and after the standoff with Beni Prasad Verma. The Congress minister had launched a personal attack on Mulayam,the outrage that followed culminated in an apology by Kamal Nath,and Mulayam indicated to party members that the matter was settled.

The matter did appear closed until Wednesday,by when the DMKs pullout had apparently taken precedence. Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav was all over TV channels in the morning about the Congresss arrogance towards supporting parties,but made no mention of the Verma episode.

He was taken by surprise when Mulayam called that very morning and asked him to marshall his flock in the Rajya Sabha and disrupt proceedings demanding Vermas removal. In the Lok Sabha,Mulayam approached Sushma Swaraj,urging her to go beyond the role of a BJP leader,act like the leader of the opposition she is,and pin the government down on Vermas remarks. Sushma readily obliged.

It sent the government into a tailspin. Following a series of meetings,government managers forced Verma to express regret for his remarks,while Sonia Gandhi,the Prime Minister and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde all made personal efforts to placate Mulayam. Even after that,the instruction stayed SP members were not to allow either House to function for the day,and they ensured that.

Having resolved to authorise Mulayam to take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time,party members remain clueless whether they will end up pulling the rug if Beni is not sacked or whether they will let it be. They guess that the issue is still alive,though only Mulayam knows.

They had guessed wrongly the last time Mulayam had taken on Sonia. That was over the scuffle between Sonia and SP member Yashvir Singh during the introduction of the SC/ST promotions quota bill in the Lok Sabha in December. Mulayam reportedly told party members,It is our MP who was manhandled,and you expect us to apologise? It left party MPs elated about the propsect of getting Sonia to apologise. The next morning,they found to their shock Yashvir expressing his regret to the Speaker.

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He had sprung a surprise in the summers presidential elections too. Ram Gopal Yadav and other party MPs were confiding that the SP was in favour of Pranab Mukherjee. Then Mulayam joined ranks with Mamata Banerjee to propose the names of A P J Abdul Kalam,Somnath Chatterjee and Manmohan Singh.

The party had no inkling of what was to follow either. That same evening,Mulayam met Sonia,but neither Mamata nor his aides knew about it. They got to know only the next day they were informed,not consulted. Following another meeting between Mulayam and Sonia,the SP announced support to Pranab the moment Sonia announced his name.

And in March,after the party had swept the UP elections,Mulayam called a meeting of senior leaders to discuss who should be chief minister. Shivpal Yadav and Azam Khan proposed Mulayams name; Ram Gopal proposed Akhilesh Yadavs. When Mulayam gave them no clue what he wanted,Shivpal suggested Mulayam could take oath first,which would allow him to match Mayawati with four chief ministerial terms,and then hand over power to Akhilesh sometime later. The next day,when each stuck to his position and Mulayam to his suspense,Akhilesh said he would not take the position if Shivpal did not like it. Shivpal backtracked,saying that had never been his intention. Mulayam finally played his hand,asking Shivpal if that was the case,then why Akhilesh should not be the CM.

This time,Mulayam has used the Verma episode to assess how vulnerable the DMK pullout has left the top leadership of the Congress: Sonia,the Prime Minister and Shinde. He may already have made his assessment,but he will keep it a secret from everyone,including his own flock,until he has actually made his move.