Shivpal Yadav yet to get due importance in SP
After nearly six years of rancorous ties, uncle Shivpal Yadav walked an extra mile to patch up with nephew Akhilesh Yadav last year, forgetting all the insults and humiliation after the family patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away. Although the Samajwadi Party chief promised Shivpal his due after he merged his outfit PSPL with the SP, the veteran Samajwadi doesn’t seem to be getting it. In the recently announced 183-member SP state executive, there are five names from the Shival camp. Even his son Aditya Yadav, who was the chairman of state cooperatives during the 2012-17 SP government, failed to make the cut.
No end to nepotism in Mayawati-led BSP
Although Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has been speaking vociferously against nepotism, her own outfit, it seems, is not untouched by it. While her brother Anand Kumar and nephew Akash are seen as the two natural inheritors of her legacy, what has surprised even the partymen is the growing stature of Akash’s father-in-law Ashok Siddharth. While he has been an old loyalist, the BSP chief recently made him party in charge of 10 states. While he will hold an independent charge in seven of them, in three poll-bound states, he will mentor his son-in-law.
Compensate 1980 riots victims, demands IUML
Days after the Yogi Adityanath government tabled the one-member judicial commission report on the 1980 Moradabad riots, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) — whose two leaders have been indicted in the report for fomenting the communal flare-up — has demanded compensation for the riot victims. The 476-page report absolves police, administration and common Hindus and Muslims, but says that the then-state IUML chief Shamim Ahmad ignited the riots to win the confidence of the community with an eye on electoral gains. The IUML and other opposition leaders have questioned the timing of the tabling of the report.
Namita Bajpai
Our correspondent in Uttar Pradesh
namita.bajpai@ newindianexpress.com