File photo of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav.
File photo of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav. (source: NDTV)

In a setback to any peace deal between the warring members of the first political family of Uttar Pradesh, Shivpal Yadav resigned from the State Cabinet and Samajwadi Party State President’s post on Thursday. He sent in his resignations to Akhilesh Yadav, even after party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav met his chief minister son and asked him to end feuding with uncle Shivpal.

It was widely expected that party patriarch Mulayam Singh will manage to broker a deal. But it was not only Shivpal but his wife also resigned from all party posts and son Aditya Yadav quit as Chairman of Pradeshik Cooperative Federation, indicating the rapprochement efforts have failed.

Shivpal is known for his organising skill and enjoys support of a large section in the party. Even Mulayam had confirmed this earlier, saying if Shivpal quits, the party will split. There were indications that Shivpal will be tasked to navigate the party through the elections while Akhilesh will carry the message of development to the people.

Meanwhile, UP Health Minister Ravidas Mehrotra told news agency ANI that the party’s parliamentary board will convene tomorrow to resolve the feud. “SP parliamentary board meeting will resolve the issues; Akhileshji & Shivpalji will start working together,” Mehrotra said.

Split in Yadav family
The Yadav family is split on the issue. While Akhilesh has the backing of Mulayam’s cousin Ram Gopal Yadav, nephew Dharmendra Yadav, and Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal, Shivpal enjoys support of Mulayam and his another son Prateek. Shivpal is known to be Mulayam’s favourite.

Although all key members of the party and the Yadav family maintain that Netaji’s (Mulayam) decision is final. Mulayam met Akhliesh for more than an hour, and asked the warring uncle and nephew separately to sort out the difference that threatens the party’s prospects. Nevertheless, came the resignations.

Is the tussle of ego gone to a point of no return? Akhilesh has also created a base in the party and among the youth over the years. But has he the temerity to go against the decision of Netaji? Or, the resignations were a master stroke from Shivpal?

Mulayam’s gameplan?
There were also speculations that the Yadav family feud was manufactured by Mulayam who is known to be a master strategist in politics. He has scripted many twists and turns to check mate former prime ministers, chief ministers and even foreign dignitaries. So this entire episode was being stage managed by the party patriarch to bolster his son’s image.

With elections barely seven months away, Akhlish needs to come out of the shadow of his elders in the Yadav family. Don’t you remember the famous saying that Uttar Pradesh has four and half chief ministers? This is despite Akhilesh taking several strong decisions in last couple of years.

How events unfolded:
The turf war escalated with the sacking of state chief secretary Deepak Singhal, considered to be close to Shivpal, and two cabinet ministers. An angry Mulayam then replaced Akhilesh with Shivpal as the party’s state chief. Akhilesh retaliated by stripping his uncle of three key portfolios even as he clarified there was no rift in the family but the government, and lamented that “outsiders” were interfering in party affairs, indicating towards Amar Singh who is siding with Shivpal for now.

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