The Samajwadi Party appears divided on the eve of the presidential election with camps led by its patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and party chief Akhilesh Yadav all set to vote for rival candidates, triggering possibility of cross-voting.
Though the division in the party may not have any bearing on the election result, it will certainly complicate the family feud further, said an SP insider, requesting anonymity.
The sharp differences in the SP on the issue of presidential nominee was clear right from the day Ram Nath Kovind was chosen as the NDA nominee. Soon after the announcement of Mr. Kovind’s name, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav had attended a dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lucknow on June 20, 2017. It was seen in political circles as a clear indication of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s support to the NDA candidate.
Significantly, the dinner was skipped by Mr. Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati, who are supporting the opposition candidate. The SP patron’s vote for Mr. Kovind became a foregone conclusion the very day he openly described him as a “strong candidate”, said the SP insider. “Ram Nath Kovind is a good candidate. I have a very old relations with him. BJP has selected a strong candidate. The most important thing is that the BJP has a majority,” Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav had said on record.
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Opposition’s candidate Meira Kumar met Mr. Akhilesh Yadav at the SP headquarters in Lucknow on July 14, 2017 before meeting Ms. Mayawati to seek votes. Interestingly, Mr. Shivpal Yadav and senior party leader Azam Khan were conspicuous by their absence.
Mr. Akhilesh Yadav has instructed his MLAs to vote for Ms. Kumar, as she “represented a secular ideology”. SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI that Mr. Akhilesh Yadav has given instruction to his MLAs to vote for Ms. Kumar.
Ram Govind Chaudhary, SP Legislature Party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said, “Everyone should support Kumar.” In a written appeal circulated to all SP MLAs, Ms. Kumar said that the presidential election has given one an opportunity to transcend petty politics and listen to the inner conscience.
On expected lines, Shivpal Yadav, the warring uncle of Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, said that whatever his elder brother Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav decides was the last word for him, indicating that he too would back Mr. Kovind. Mr. Shivpal Yadav has announced in Varanasi that he along with “several” SP MLAs and MPs will vote for Mr. Kovind. “Kovind has very good relations with netaji (Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav). He is a good man and the best candidate,” Mr. Shivpal Yadav said. “ Netaji jo kahengey wahi hoga (Whatever netaji says will happen),” he said.
Shivpal loyalist Deepak Mishra, though not a voter, pledged “open support to Kovind” and thanked the Prime Minister for his selection. The SP has five members in the Lok Sabha, including Mr. Muayam Singh Yadav, and 19 members in the Rajya Sabha, including Amar Singh, who is now an unattached member after his expulsion from the party, besides 47 MLAs in U.P. Since members of the Legislative Council are not part of the electoral college, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, an MLC, cannot vote, though his wife Dimple Yadav, a Lok Sabha member, is eligible to participate in the exercise.
Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav was removed from the party’s national president post and made a patron by Mr. Akhilesh Yadav in January 2017 at the peak of dissidence in the then ruling party which led to a drubbing the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
