Mainpuri bypoll: Another chapter in Mulayam family saga, Shivpal bats for Dimple

If Shakya said Tuesday that he would seek the blessings of his “political guru” Shivpal for the December 5 by-election, on Wednesday, Shivpal asked workers of his party Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) to ensure Dimple’s victory from Mainpuri. Shivpal was at the Yadav family’s ancestral village, Saifai, in Etawah district, where he held a meeting with PSP-L leaders and workers.

He told party workers that Mulayam had an emotional bond with Mainpuri and helping Dimple win would be a true tribute to him.

In the recent Assembly elections, the SP had not included Shivpal for a long time in its star campaigners’ list – one of the many examples the uncle cites of Akhilesh sidelining him in the party.

It was after four phases of polls, including to Yadav-dominated SP strongholds of Mainpuri, Etawah, Etah, Firozabad and Kannauj districts, that Shivpal was added as a star campaigner. “Eventually, Shivpal addressed only two public meetings, one each in Jaunpur and Kushinagar, and that too because of his personal relations with the SP candidates,” says a leader of the PSP-L.

The younger brother of Mulayam — who passed away last month, necessitating the bypoll — Shivpal is by now reconciled to Akhilesh’s supremacy in the SP. However, he still nurtured ambitions of being fielded from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, and hence retaining some claim to the legacy of Mulayam, who won the constituency five times.

Shivpal is currently the sitting MLA from Jaswantnagar Assembly seat, which is part of the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency. While he won from Jaswantnagar in the 2022 Assembly elections, he did so on an SP ticket after Akhilesh refused to part with more tickets for Shivpal’s fledgling PSP-Lohia.

The PSP-L leader said the SP appears to have finally understood “the importance of Shivpal”. “The SP is seeking votes in the name of Mulayam and Shivpal is his younger brother and a local MLA from Jaswantnagar. His support is important for Dimple in Mainpuri. Also, by making Shivpal the star campaigner, the SP is hoping to control the damage that the Shakya nomination may cause.” When Dimple filed her nomination on Monday, no one from Shivpal’s family accompanied her.

BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya is a two-time SP MP from Etawah. In the feud between Akhilesh and Shivpal after an ailing Mulayam’s influence waned, Shakya had sided with Shivpal.

He is expected to get the sympathy vote from Shakyas for Akhilesh denying him a ticket in the 2022 Assembly elections. Shakyas rank only behind the Yadavs in the seat.

The BJP has a significant vote base of its own in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, having won two of its five Assembly segments in the recent elections.