Shivpal plans his own party with Mulayam, refuses to tango with Akhilesh

Blames Akhilesh for poll rout, didn't want pact with Congress

The ongoing feud in Samajwadi Party's (SP's) ruling Yadav family resurfaced as a disgruntled Shivpal Yadav declared he will float a new outfit "Samajwadi Secular Morcha" with elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav as its chief.
 

The move is aimed to question the authority of party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, with whom Shivpal was locked in a bitter power struggle before the recent assembly polls.

Although Shivpal was pacified by Mulayam, the disgruntled leader renewed efforts to target Akhilesh after the party lost badly to the BJP. As part of an alliance with the Congress, the SP contested 298 of the total 403 seats but could win just 47. The Congress could win just seven of the 105 seats it contested. The BJP stunned everyone winning a massive 312 seats.

Akhilesh, who led the party's campaign, unilaterally decided to have a pre-poll pact with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Shivpal was against the alliance and blamed Akhilesh for the poll rout. He also started demanding that Mulayam should again be given reins of the party as promised by Akhilesh before the polls when he was named SP chief in an urgently convened national conference.

Interestingly, when knives were out for Akhilesh after the poll debacle, Mulayam took a lenient view of the situation and said no one was actually responsible for the drubbing.

Mulayam's silence may have provoked All eyes are now on Mulayam Singh to see whether the SP founder patriarch backs his son or his brothers as the buzz around a possible split gained ground in the party.

Noting that Mulayam was highly unlikely to hurt the SP that he founded and nurtured, party sources said that the leadership issue has been settled in favour of Akhilesh, who enjoys the support of majority lawmakers and leaders. Also when the fight over party's poll symbol cycle had reached the Election Commission, Mulayam surprisingly did not back his claims with sufficient documents leading to the victory of the Akhilesh faction.

The sources described Shivpal's move to form a new party as mere pressure tactics and said he was being instigated by expelled party leader Amar Singh. Earlier, Mulayam's cousin Ram Gopal too had blamed the controversial Rajya Sabha member for instigating Shivpal. Ticket distribution was another sticking point between Akhilesh and Shivpal but Mulayam gave space to his brother by fielding him from Jaswant Nagar constituency, which he won.

During the seven-phased polls, party leaders discussed in hush tone of Shivpal rocking the SP boat from within against candidates chosen by Akhilesh.

Akhilesh refused to get into the controversy and said he welcomes "secular politics". Sources said he has ordered a membership drive across the state which will culminate with the election for the post of party chief. Sources further said most of the MPs, MLAs, and party leaders were behind Akhilesh and Shivpal lacked the two-thirds support to materialise a formal split.

Senior leaders acknowledged that Shivpal's move has come at a time when the party and the Yadav family should be seen united to fight the BJP instead of indulging in factional fights.