Lucknow: Tipu has become Sultan of the Samajwadi Party. That much is clear after the organisational support his calculated rebellion against the old order forced father Mulayam Singh and uncle Shivpal Yadav to recalculate the options. Akhilesh, nicknamed Tipu by his family, had used his suspension to his advantage.
It is believed that by the time Akhilesh reached out to his father with the promise of winning the 2017 election for the party at any cost, the SP chief had already realised that his son was trotting tight with over 75 per cent legislatures coming out in his support. “The presence of just 20-odd MLAs at Netaji’s meeting, must have made him realise that the party cadre is heavily tilted in his son’s favour. He revoked Akhilesh’s expulsion,” said a SP spokesperson.
Its GenNxt Power dawning in SP, which makes old timers and their caste-communal-criminal politics obsolete. Said an MLA, “If Netaji has built the party with his blood and sweat, Akhilesh has taken it to the next level. It is high time the party leadership realises it. The chief minister is dominating this so-called war of one-upmanship in the family and the party is standing firmly behind him,” he added.
Mulayam, who was unflexible until Saturday on his son’s expulsion, became emotional during an hour-long meeting with the CM. “Netaji knew that if Akhilesh parted ways effecting a split in the party, the organisation would be dismantled, leaving behind just a handful leaders of the likes of Shivpal Yadav,” says a senior party functionary.
Akhilesh also convinced his father to take a relook at the list of candidates for the upcoming elections. Akhilesh has not called off the national convention to be held on Sunday, which was called by Ram Gopal, which was the flashpoint for his sacking. Party sources say that Mulayam feared that Akhilesh and Ram Gopal, with the overwhelming support of MLAs and party office-bearers, could have declared their faction as the real Samajwadi Party. Shivpal’s Cabinet post is just a sop. What will be the convention’s agenda? Wait and watch this space.
