Opinion Samajwadi Party: Is the Yadav family on a collision course that will see them go their separate ways?
On Sunday, Shivpal, in a veiled attack on Akhilesh, said those who achieve everything without having to work hard fail to make the right decisions.
Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh kept close tabs on Monday's meeting of the Samajwadi Party. (File Photo) 
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Even though he failed to avert the party’s defeat in the elections, Akhilesh has managed to install himself as the leader of the party
As Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has shown no inclination to reinstate family members like uncle Shivpal Yadav to important party posts they had enjoyed under Mulayam Singh Yadav’s leadership, his detractors in the family are also mounting veiled attacks on him and trying to undermine his authority, an indication that the two factions remain very much on a collision course.
Akhilesh has chosen his loyalist Ram Govind Chaudhary, MLA from Bansdih seat of Ballia, as the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, overlooking Shivpal, Azam Khan and other Mulayam loyalists. Shivpal has not taken part in the meeting of SP MLAs and MLCs presided over by Akhilesh.
Even though he failed to avert the party’s defeat in the elections, Akhilesh has managed to install himself as the leader of the party, leading the party’s campaign without any help from Mulayam and Shivpal, the brothers who were considered the pillars of the SP till six months ago.
Mulayam, patron and founder of the SP, recently said he felt “insulted” after he was unceremoniously removed from the post of party’s national president and Akhilesh was installed through a national convention in January. On Sunday, Shivpal, in a veiled attack on Akhilesh, said those who achieve everything without having to work hard fail to make the right decisions.
These statements came days after Mulayam’s younger son Prateek and his wife Aparna, who had unsuccessfully contested from Lucknow Cantonment as SP nominee, took Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other functionaries of the new BJP government to a cow shelter in Lucknow managed by an NGO the couple supports. Later, Aparna described Adityanath as her brother and praised his government.
A few days before the election results were announced, Prateek’s mother Sadhna had for the first time made public her views on the party and the family dispute. She said that she wanted to see Prateek take part in politics. Sadhna had also stated that she would not tolerate any more disrespect towards Mulayam.
Akhilesh’s detractors see him as vulnerable because of the party’s dismal performance. And some of them could chart a separate course before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as their political ambitions collide and Akhilesh is unlikely to budge. That, in turn, could shape the state’s politics before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. If Mulayam loyalists tilt towards the BJP, as Aparna and Prateek have indicated, Akhilesh would find it easier to not just continue the alliance with Congress but also to reach out to BSP chief Mayawati who is in need of allies to save her berth in the Rajya Sabha when her term ends next year. In fact, the summer of 2018 is likely to cause a big churning in the state’s politics as the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council would test the loyalty of opposition parties’ MLAs and whether the Opposition can put aside the acrimony of the past to come together.
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