LUCKNOW: All is not well in the rainbow alliance which Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) stitched ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Riding on the confidence of caste equations cobbled up by taking the small caste-based parties along, the SP and its allies might have won 125 seats but the chinks have started emerging in the armour of the ‘Samajwadi alliance’ after the assembly election results.
Locked in a straight fight with the ruling BJP in maximum seats, the SP alliance was hopeful of making it to the throne of Lucknow, but with the saffron brigade returning to power with over two-thirds majority winning 273 seats, various SP allies have started airing their discontent.
The allies are not mincing words in leveling charges of ticket sale on alliance leadership in western UP to sidelining Dalits and Muslims in other regions. It seems Akhilesh Yadav has a daunting task at hand to keep the flock together till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
To begin with, in western UP, last week, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) state president Masood Ahmad dropped a letter bomb accusing his party president Jayant Chaudhary and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of behaving like ‘dictators’. Seeking answers to a number of queries while announcing his decision to part ways from RLD, Masood Ahmad alleged that the SP-RLD alliance sold tickets to candidates for 2022 polls.
He also claimed that RLD was not given its due in ticket distribution and accused Jayant Chaudhary of compromising the party interests by clinching an alliance with the SP for his own vested interest. He claimed that against the party’s will, Chaudhury went ahead with an alliance with SP. “The SP showed disrespect many a time. RLD was denied the number of seats it had demanded in eastern UP and Bundelkhand. Even Jayant Chaudhary was not taken along in the campaign beyond western UP. As per the agreement, SP and RLD candidates had to contest on each other’s symbols on a number of seats, but while RLD gave its symbol to, at least, 10 SP candidates across western UP, SP did not reciprocate in the same manner,” Ahmad had claimed in his seven-page letter.
He further said that the internal rift and the ‘supremo’ culture laced with the dictatorial stench in the parties were the main reason why the alliance couldn’t win. Ahmad accused Akhilesh and Jayant of ignoring issues related to Muslims and Dalits. The allegations came after Jayant Chaudhary clarified that he will stay with the SP and will contest even the 2024 Lok Sabha polls with Akhilesh.
However, as per the highly placed sources claimed on Monday that the Samajwadi Party was contemplating sending Jayant Chaudhury to Rajya Sabha in the upcoming elections in July.
On the other, the corridors of politics are abuzz with SP’s smaller ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar meeting Amit Shah and top BJP leaders in Delhi on Friday afternoon. However, Rajbhar later denied the claims stating that he was firmly with the SP alliance and was looking forward to contesting the next elections with the Samajwadi Party.
SBSP is a former BJP ally. It had left the NDA in 2019 and later tied up with Akhilesh Yadav.
Adding to the troubles further, post-assembly election results, turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya and Mahan Dal chief Keshav Dev Maurya have been locked in a cold war. The Mahan Dal chief feels that the over-confidence of alliance leaders led to their defeat directing his reference to Swami Prasad Maurya who lost election from Fazil Nagar seat of Kushinagar. The Mahan Dal chief has the complaint of not getting an adequate number of seats as compared to other alliance partners. He expressed his discontent by stating that even his cadre was not utilized properly during the polls.
Mounting further pressure, even Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) chief Shivpal Yadav also recently held the organisational structure of the SP responsible for the alliance debacle. He said that had the booth committees been formed before and tickets announced well in time, SP would have won much more seats.