Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday gave a new twist to the infighting within his party and family after he avoided a direct endorsement of his son Akhilesh as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
The junior Yadav is the Chief Minister of the State and has so far been projecting himself as the face of the campaign. He had recently said he still held the “ace” in the game — a reference to the fact that he was the face of the campaign.
Asked by the media if his son remained the chief ministerial candidate, Mr Singh said: “This is not your job. This is the job of our party’s parliamentary board. The elected party legislators will decide on the chief minister.”
The Opposition parties were quick to conclude that Mr. Singh’s statement was a fresh setback for Akhilesh Yadav. whose close aides, including some MLCs and presidents of youth frontal organisations, had been shunted out in recent weeks.
Sources said communication between Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav had completely broken down in last few weeks.
Mr. Yadav’s comments came on a day when Akhilesh Yadav admitted he was being cornered in the family but would start campaigning on his own.
Mulayam denies rift in Yadav clan
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who, on Friday, avoided a direct endorsement of his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in next year’s Assembly elections, however, played down speculations of a rift within the ruling party and the Yadav clan.
“There is no dispute in the family whatsoever... people have full faith in our family,” said Mr. Yadav, flanked at the media interaction by his brother and State party chief Shivpal Yadav and controversial Minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati.
Mr Singh also emphasised his importance in the party saying whatever heights the party had reached over the years, was because of him, even as he praised his brother Shivpal, saying he [Shivpal] was “everything for the party.”
He recalled how in 2012, the party sought votes in his name but eventually he had nominated his son as the chief Minister.
Opposition questions
BJP president Amit Shah took a dig at the infighting within the SP, asking how a “divided house” could govern a large State like U.P. “Akhileshji, first sort out your family feud,” Mr. Shah said in Kanpur, while addressing a Dhamma Chetna rally.
Congress MLA Akhilesh Pratap Singh said it was “acceptance of defeat”.
