Instead of coming close to a resolution in the face of a rout of the party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the family feud in the SP appeared set to intensify as results trickled out on Saturday, with Shivpal Singh Yadav launching an attack on his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.
“This is a defeat not of the Samajwadis but of arrogant people. People of the State have taught a lesson to those who insulted me and removed Netaji,” Mr. Shivpal said.
“The two factions are likely to move further apart now. While workers of the party know that the Chief Minister has worked hard, he is under attack from those who damaged the party by creating a crisis,” said a leader considered close to Mr. Akhilesh.
Apart from putting its own house in order, the SP now needs to negotiate the altered ground reality of a saffron surge in the State after two decades or more.
“We will look at the results to figure out why we lost despite the Chief Minister’s popularity,” U.P. MLC from the SP and Mr. Akhilesh’s close aide, Udaiveer Singh, told The Hindu . “This is not a vote against us. If it had been, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would also not have lost so badly.” He added that the party would have to brainstorm on whether the results reflected changed social dynamics or the success of the BJP’s campaign.
However, there is already hair-splitting on the result taking place within the SP.
SP’s outreach
An SP leader rued that while the BJP had begun to systematically tap non-Yadav OBCs such as Kurmis, Rajbhars, Mauryas and Lodhs., well before the poll campaign picked up, the SP’s outreach could not pick up as it was occupied for very long with infighting in party ranks.
The leader added that the BJP brought on board many leaders through whom it could reach out to these castes.
“We could not tap different leaders and castes as we got embroiled in a family struggle. None knew who would be doing seat distribution,” said an SP leader.
Another added that while people seem to have bought the “tall promises” made by Mr. Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Mr. Akhilesh’s “promises and work” could not connect well with people because of conflicting statements from within the SP caused by infighting.
