A shrewd politician, Mulayam always bats for political mileage

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A shrewd politician, Mulayam always bats for political mileage, not withstanding the perception that he values relationships. Support extended by Ramgopal Yadav to Sushma Swaraj over the Lalit Modi issue was defended by the Samajwadi Party (SP) as the help was extended on personal grounds, but the decision had larger political ramifications. For Mulayam understands that the BJP post 2014 is different from the BJP he had faced earlier.

Some may argue that Mulayam softened his aggressive tone against the BJP after a CBI probe began against Noida authority engineer Yadav Singh. There are, however, other reasons. Firstly, Mulayam is in no position to antagonise the NDA government due to his poor strength in the Parliament (5). Aligning with BJP will save him from verbal attacks by the BJP over the logjam in the Parliament. With panchayat elections in UP scheduled for November, Mulayam does not want a hostile government at the Centre.

Mulayam knows that in politics one has to give a ‘message’. A strong stand against PM Narendra Modi will give fodder to state level BJP leaders to continue their vicious attacks on his son Akhilesh Yadav’s government. By supporting Modi, a ‘message’ has been sent out. BJP’s top brass may claim that the party is still pitched against SP but grassroots workers of BJP read only these messages. Modi’s praise for Mulayam in Delhi on Tuesday changes the tone of state BJP leaders.

An unfriendly central government is always detrimental for a state government and more so for the cash-strapped Akhilesh government. That is why Mulayam wanted to deliver the letter demanding financial relief from the Centre to the PM personally.

Furthermore, Mulayam does not want to be aligned with Congress in UP. For him, a Congress which remains alive in name only is better than a Congress which can dictate terms. A compromise in the Parliament does not suit Mulayam. If the Modi government had softened its stance over the logjam in Parliament it would be seen as a Congress victory leaving Mulayam alone with no credit in eyes of either the BJP or the Congress.