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Samajwadi Party waits for the final battle of Yadavs

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Kamlesh Singh
Kamlesh SinghDec 31, 2016 | 18:31

Samajwadi Party waits for the final battle of Yadavs

Samajwadi Party will not be partying tonight to celebrate the abrupt suturing of the long-festering wound that burst open once again yesterday. Instead, the night will be of the proverbial long knives. For a surgery is imminent.

In what began as the battle of lists, the party patriarch may not be as listless as he comes out to be. The wrestler in Mulayam Singh Yadav instead must be enjoying the duel between his son and Shivpal. While he must stand behind his brother for that’s the honourable thing, he knows it’s a lost battle for his brother.

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He knew his brother would be defanged, end up bruised if he allowed the duel. Yet, he encouraged him into the ring for the fourth round in recent times. He killed two birds with one stone: Shivpal’s succession claim and Akhilesh’s thorny path to consolidation.

Mulayam Singh Yadav does give Shivpal the due credit for working tirelessly behind the scenes and keeping the organisation together while he consolidated his strength in Delhi. It is Shivpal who knows the workers by their names, not Akhilesh.

Yet, in 2012, Mulayam Singh chose Akhilesh Yadav to be the chief minister and made Shivpal his junior in the government, putting Shivpal in an awkward position. For in the family, elders are elders. Shivpal took that on is chin and waited for his time.

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Mulayam Singh played himself, the wily wrestler from Saifai who had startled as many friends as rivals by quick daanv and quicker pench, always in time.

In 2014, when the party was more than decimated in the general elections, Shivpal began his project to reclaim power and honour. Akhilesh went on a project - the heavy image makeover project - and quickly established himself as the development man of UP. Modi had, after all, won that election on the development agenda.

With Shivpal working to undermine him, Akhilesh took swift action against the Shivpal elements in his Cabinet. Mulayam Singh’s cousin Ramgopal backed Akhilesh and that bitter fight ended in expulsions and the revocation of expulsions, just like what happened on the last day of the year 2016.

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Mulayam Singh played himself, the wily wrestler from Saifai who had startled as many friends as rivals by quick daanv and quicker pench, always in time.

But this was a family feud. He needed to push Shivpal away from the ring, but he couldn’t be seen doing that because it’s not an honourable thing to do. So he pushed Akhilesh out and allowed Shivpal to cut himself to size. Shivpal today is bruised and battle-worn. The succession war has nearly ended.

Horizontal succession is a myth. Shivpal didn't realise this in time. Over the years, Samajwadi Party leadership grew horizontally as the new generation joined politics. Leadership by nature is a vertical construct. Even in family-run parties, it’s always one family, not families.

So many brothers and nephews, sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law. With their own little fiefs. Party members had divided loyalties. There were camps and no centre. Mulayam Singh risked his reputation so that this could be settled once and for all. Now those who want to stay relevant will accept the new leader. Mulayam Singh will remain the father of the party. The ruling family has shrunk to one unit. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s immediate family, or rather, the Akhilesh Yadav family.

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This battle now goes into the final stage. The party will eventually choose Akhilesh Yadav as the new president, the only power centre that the supporters will flock to. The kin will have to choose and most will go with Akhilesh, the new face not only in the state but also at the national level. Shivpal and his family find themselves at odds. They have Mulayam Singh’s consolation and Amar Singh as a consolation prize. Wait and watch.

Last updated: December 31, 2016 | 18:31
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