Burying hatchet, Akhilesh, Shivpal join hands to consolidate Yadav support base

The informal talks between the two camps for the electoral tie-up had begun over a month ago. Shivpal had undertaken five phases of his “Samajik Parivartan Rath Yatra” in UP’s 61 districts, but on 10 November he issued a a letter to all his district office bearers, informing them of his decision to “postpone” the next three phases of yatra in view of “inevitable” circumstances.

Samajwadi Party and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party workers hold a celebration after Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav holds a meeting with his uncle and Paragatisheel Samajwadi Party chief Shivpal Singh Yadav at the latter’s residence in Lucknow. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

“Now Shivpal ji and Akhilesh ji will run campaigns with common strategy,” said Abhishek Singh “Ashu”, PSP (L) state principal general secretary.

An SP leader remarked that both Akhilesh and Shivpal will now work out joint poll strategies, even as Shivpal would want to get the same “respect” in the alliance that he had enjoyed in the SP before their family feud erupted in 2016 splitting the SP.

Shivpal had won the 2017 UP Assembly polls on the SP symbol from Jaswantnagar in Etawah district but had later floated the PSP (L).

Shivpal’s fledgling party fielded about 30 candidates in UP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He himself contested from Firozabad and got 91,869 votes, while the margin between the winner, BJP nominee Chandra Sen Jadon, and the runner-up, SP candidate Akshay Yadav, was only 28,781 votes.

The dent made in the Yadav vote bank by Shivpal’s breakaway outfit was also perceived to be a factor in the defeat of Akshay, son of senior SP leader Ramgopal Yadav who had sided with Akhilesh when family feud was raging during 2016-17.

In 2019 polls, the PSP (L) had fielded its candidates in 83 seats in several states, including UP, but all its candidates lost their deposits.

Shivpal was a powerful leader in the SP and the most power minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav-led UP government.

The first signs of feud within the SP’s “first family” emerged in June 2016, when Shivpal supported the merger of Quami Ekta Dal (QED) with the SP. That merger was however called off by the SP Parliamentary Board under pressure from then chief minister Akhilesh, who did not want to have an association with QED founder and strongman, Mukhtar Ansari.

On September 13, 2016, the SP family turf war intensified as Akhilesh divested uncle Shivpal of all his ministerial portfolios after his father and then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav replaced Akhilesh with Shivpal, his brother, as UP party president.

In retaliation, Shivpal sacked seven leaders affiliated to Akhilesh, including three MLCs and chiefs of youth frontal organisations, for their alleged “derogatory remarks” against Mulayam while holding a protest against Akhilesh’s removal as the party’s state unit president.

On October 23, 2016, the warring factions of Akhilesh and Shivpal expelled senior leaders from each other’s camps.

After Akhilesh axed Shivpal and three of his loyalists from his ministry, Mulayam expelled Ramgopal, his cousin and Rajya Sabha MP, from the party for six years. Ramgopal, who had emerged as a key Akhilesh backer, was however soon reinducted into the party.

The rift between Akhilesh and Shivpal was on full public display during the SP’s silver jubilee function in Lucknow on November 5, 2016.

In his speech then, Shivpal had said: “Whatever sacrifice you want from me, I will make. If you want my blood, I will give it. I don’t ever want to become chief minister. You can insult me, dismiss me as many times as you want, but I know that I have done good work.”

Charging that some people were trying to create problems, he also stressed that he would not tolerate any “insult to Mulayam Yadav”.

Addressing Akhilesh, Shivpal said, “You felt hurt when I once said that some people inherit, while others get nothing despite working all their lives… And the sycophants are enjoying full benefits.”

From the same dais, Akhilesh had then hit back. Pointing towards Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, a minister who he had sacked over graft allegations but later reinducted on Mulayam’s insistence, he said, “Prajapati has presented me a sword. You give me a sword but don’t want me to use it.”

With Mulayam remaining silent, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had attended the event as a guest, sought to play peacemaker as he brought Akhilesh and Shivpal together on the stage, raised their hands, asked Akhilesh to seek his uncle’s blessings, and pulled Shivpal’s hand to bless his nephew. “By bringing Shivpal and Akhilesh together before you, I have proved that there is no feud,” Lalu said.

Lalu’s efforts however proved futile as on December 30, 2016 the SP family feud hit a flash point with Mulayam expelling both Akhilesh and Ramgopal from the party for six years on charges of “gross indiscipline”. This came a day after Akhilesh put out his own list of 235 candidates for the 2017 Assembly elections, including many who did not figure in the list issued by Mulayam a day earlier.

Three days later, the SP national executive “unanimously” elected Akhilesh as the party’s national president. Mulayam and Shivpal were not present at the meeting, even though Mulayam later termed the decision “unconstitutional”. In the same meeting, the national executive also passed a resolution that Shivpal be removed as the party’s UP chief. Hours later, Akhilesh appointed his loyalist Naresh Uttam, a non-Yadav OBC leader, as the new state party president.

Seeking to challenge the ruling BJP in the upcoming UP polls, Akhilesh has forged alliances with a number of non-Yadav OBC parties such as the Suheldeo Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Mahan Dal and Janwadi Socialist Party. He has also tied up with

Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which has a strong support base among Jats and farmers in west UP.

The SP had fought the 2017 elections, when its tally plunged to just 47 seats, in alliance with the Congress. For the 2022 polls, however, Akhilesh has chosen to distance his party from the Congress.

Allying with Shivpal will help Akhilesh in consolidating the SP’s traditional Yadav vote bank, which is critical for him as he tries to create a broad coalition of small, caste-based parties in a bid to take on the formidable BJP dispensation. The two leaders’ move to join hands is a clear bid to regain their lost grounds in UP politics.