HIS RECENT public spat with the Congress over seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh is in keeping with earlier steps by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to come into his own as a leader. A senior leader in the SP points out that by driving a hard bargain in Madhya Pradesh, without any real possibility of INDIA ally Congress accommodating his seat demands, Akhilesh had laid the ground for ensuring a quid pro quo in Uttar Pradesh when the Lok Sabha polls come around – if the SP is weak in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is equally debilitated in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh persisted with a war of words over the Madhya Pradesh seat-sharing despite the fact that senior Congress leaders refused to join the issue, leaving the sparring to newly appointed Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai, much lower in stature as compared to the SP president. Akhilesh only let up after announcing that he had got a reassurance from “the topmost leader” in the Congress, thus conveying both that he had the ear of the high command and that the Congress could not ignore him. Meanwhile, he continues to flex his Madhya Pradesh muscle, going up from five to 35 candidates and, as per party leaders, could field up to 75, with senior leaders suggesting there may still be an agreement with the Congress before the end of the nomination process. Akhilesh and allies Since taking over the reins of the SP in January 2017, Akhilesh has had several experiments with alliances. Earlier, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav had vowed off tie-ups after the bitter break-up with the BSP in 1995, which ended with the infamous Lucknow guest house incident. However, Akhilesh has not had much success with partners; the SP's much-vaunted tie-up with the Congress in the 2017 Assembly polls saw it fall to 47 seats from 224 (its lowest tally since its inception in 1992); while its alliance with his father's arch-rival Mayawati in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw the BSP go up to 10 seats while the SP remained stuck at 5, as in 2014. In last year's Assembly polls, Akhilesh had more success tying up with smaller, caste-specific parties, as well as Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The SP's tally went up to 111, though it still stopped way short of the BJP. Incidentally, even as the SP and Congress have had a falling out in Madhya Pradesh, the RLD's alliance with the Congress in Rajasthan has been without hiccups. Through the Madhya Pradesh fracas, the RLD has kept its silence. This strengthens the belief that even when reaching out to parties, Akhilesh hasn't shrugged off the aura of big brother, particularly when it comes to decisions by the SP. The confusion on seat-sharing during the SP's previous tie-ups was attributed by party leaders to Akhilesh preferring to take all the calls himself, even while remaining inaccessible. Both the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and Mahaan Dal broke away from the SP soon after the 2022 Assembly elections, accusing Akhilesh of being rude and treating them as non-entities. The SP's tie-up with the RLD too has seen its share of strain over mixed messages during the Assembly elections and, particularly, the urban local body polls that followed. While Akhilesh may have a direct line with the central Congress, the party's state unit has often expressed fear of the SP throttling it by not allowing it to operate freely. Akhilesh as LoP Since he made his political debut, it is the first time Akhilesh is leading the SP in Uttar Pradesh as Leader of the Opposition. He has used the post to emerge as the face of the anti-BJP front by taking on the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath aggressively. Incidentally, while he keeps directly attacking Adityanath, the Chief Minister is generally restrained when it comes to Akhilesh, except at poll rallies. Akhilesh has also attacked Deputy CM Keshav Maurya, calling him “stool waale Deputy CM (once Maurya was seen being offered a stool to sit on, besides Adityanath)”. Brajesh Pathak was attacked by the SP chief as “servant Deputy CM”. This has coincided with Akhilesh pitching a new political vote bank for the party: 'PDA' or Pichchda (backwards), Dalits and Alpasankhyak (minority, especially Muslims). On Monday, Akhilesh expanded this to say that the 'a' in PDA also stands for “agda (forwards) and Adivasis (tribals)”. Under Akhilesh, the SP has tried to ensure that it is not seen as a party of just Muslims and Yadavs, even staying away from issues that the SP would otherwise have taken up enthusiastically. Many Yadav and Muslim leaders known to be close to Mulayam have been sidelined under Akhilesh, including his uncle Shivpal Yadav, Parasnath Yadav (Jaunpur), Rameshwar Yadav (Etah), and Om Prakash Singh, as well as Azam Khan and party MLAs such as Shazil Islam (Bareilly) and Irfan Solanki (Kanpur). Recently, when an old land dispute saw a bloody clash between a Brahmin family on one side and a Yadav on the other, Akhilesh was careful not to put one over the other, and accused the BJP of trying to play politics over the incident. Similarly, the SP chief has so far made no move to visit Azam Khan, who has been arrested afresh along with his wife and son over a forgery case. Akhilesh refused to take the bait even when the Congress state president announced a visit to Azam, though eventually Rai could not meet the SP leader. The SP has not held any protests either regarding MLA Irfan Solanki, who has been in jail for several months. There are few within the SP now who can question Akhilesh's moves. While Shivpal has been tamed, his frequent outbursts notwithstanding, cousin Dharmendra Yadav no longer enjoys the clout he did under Mulayam, and is never seen at party gatherings. While uncle Ram Gopal Yadav is still seen as a counsel, the final word is Akhilesh's.
