NEW DELHI: The untimely eruption of a bitter family feud in the Samajwadi Party shows no signs of abating. The embattled Shivpal Yadav rushed here on Wednesday and met his elder brother and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav but no resolution emerged to the deep crisis that has beset the party ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Now, Mulayam’s cousin and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav is rushing to Lucknow to confer with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who had removed Shivpal from all three key portfolios in a fit of pique this week, leaving him only with an insignificant portfolio.
Consequent to that, Mulayam, who wants Shivpal to retain his clout as a hedge against his own son acquiring a mind of his own, had made his brother the state party chief — but the stalemate had continued.
If Gopal is able to persuade Akhilesh about settling on a formula acceptable to all sides, the party’s Parliamentary Board will meet on September 17 to finalise the compromise deal.
Such a formula could come about in two ways. The first is a formalisation of the status quo — Shivpal minus his portfolios but entrenched as the state party chief, which would give Mulayam proxy control over the distribution of tickets for the polls.
Failing that, Akhilesh could agree to revert to the status quo ante and restore Shivpal’s portfolios while keeping the state party chief’s post with himself. Akhilesh, upholding his “clean image’’, has asserted his right to take a decision and stick to it.
Tension had intermittently been building up between father and son over how the party and state government is to be run, with each side targeting the favourite appointees of the other. Mulayam had earlier spoken of corrupt ministers in his son’s cabinet. And Akhilesh, in his wrathful purge, had removed not only Shivpal but two other ministers and the chief secretary.
Also in the frame is the out-of-favour figure of one-time renegade Amar Singh, who too would like Shivpal’s clout restored as a guarantor of his own continuing relevance. It is no secret that Akhilesh and the Thakur leader don’t see eye to eye.
Ahead of the polls, though, Mulayam too may see value in having a Thakur card up his sleeve.
Rahul tirade against PM
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pitting people against one another, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said in Mirzapur, citing the unrest in Kashmir, which he claimed was peaceful during the previous Congress tenure.
“The one thing that Narendra Modi knows the best is how to pit one person against the other..Narendra Modi only makes one person fight against the other and this hampers the development of the country,” Rahul said in his speech at the culmination of his road show here.
“In Haryana, Jats were put up against non-Jats. In Kashmir, which was peaceful during the Congress government, people are fighting against one another. In UP and Assam too, the same happened,” said Rahul.
Referring to Modi’s claims during elections that each Indian could get `15 lakh if all black money stashed abroad was brought back, the Congress leader accused the the latter of telling lies. He also took a dig at Modi’s monthly Mann ki Baat, saying, “He wants to talk about what is in his heart not ready to listen to what is in the hearts (of others).”