New Delhi: UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav scored a major political victory over his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, with the Election Commission on Monday allotting the party’s bicycle symbol to him, and recognising his faction as the “real” SP.
Mr Akhilesh Yadav, 43, now officially replaces Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, 77, as the national president of the party.
“The group led by Akhilesh Yadav is the SP and is entitled to use the name and its reserved symbol bicycle for the purposes of the election symbol,” the EC said in its 42-page order.
The shift of power from the old to the new was swift, but respectful. Minutes after the EC order, a shiny, new nameplate announcing “Akhilesh Yadav, National President” was nailed at the SP office in Lucknow, below the nameplate carrying Mr Mulayam Yadav’s name and his designation, ‘Rashtriya Adhyaksh’. The Mulayam faction has threatened to move court against the EC’s decision.
Mr Ram Gopal Yadav, Mr Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle, close aide and the architect of the political coup, flushed with triumph, said that the EC took the “right decision as they (the Mulayam camp) did not have any supporting documents to claim the symbol and party name”.
“The Chief Minister is very happy,” he added. Mr Ram Gopal Yadav, whom Mr Mulayam Yadav had branded as the “villain” of the piece, said that a fresh official list of candidates would be finalised by Wednesday for the first two phases, and “a grand alliance will be formed to fight elections”.
UP is to vote in a seven-phase election for its 403 seats starting February 11. The EC’s decision dealt a severe blow not merely to the SP patriarch, but it also dashed the BJP’s hope of splitting the Muslim-Yadav vote.
Grand Alliance may be a reality now
With the secular grand alliance — comprising SP, Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal, JD(U) and other smaller parties — now becoming a reality, Akhilesh Yadav could have an edge in the UP elections.
Majority of the 20 per cent Muslim vote and the Yadav votebank in the state could now consolidate in favour of Akhilesh Yadav and the grand alliance. And the RLD's presence in the alliance guarantees a major chunk of Jat votes from western UP, which had tilted towards the BJP during the last Lok Sabha polls.
In this high-stake election, the BJP was hoping that the Muslim vote would split between the SP, the BSP and the Congress, and the Yadavs between the Mulayam and Akhilesh factions.
Akhilesh Yadav’s victory could also have an adverse impact on BSP supremo Mayawati's attempts to return to power in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress described the EC’s decision as “judicious” and “congratulated” Akhilesh Yadav on being allotted the cycle symbol.
As soon as EC announced its decision around 6.30pm on Monday, celebrations broke out in Lucknow and across Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds of youths carrying SP flags and Akhilesh Yadav's cutouts poured out on the streets raising slogans, “Akhilesh Yadav zindabad.”
Earlier in the day, sensing that the poll panel’s decision could go against him, the angry father huffed, puffed and even threatened to contest against his son — “if need be”.
While a defeated Mulayam threatened to go to court against the EC decision, his close aide Amar Singh, who had emerged as the epicentre of the family feud in SP, was in London.
Pariwar
Aug. 14, 2016: Shivpal Yadav threatened to resign citing officers ignoring him
Aug. 15, 2016: Mulayam Singh Yadav backs brother Shivpal
Sept. 13, 2016: Mulayam Singh replaces Akhilesh as the state unit chief with Shivpal Yadav
Sept. 19, 2016: Shivpal expels seven Akhilesh-loyalists
Dec. 30. 2016: Mulayam Singh expels Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav for six years for “gross indiscipline”
Jan. 2, 2017: Akhilesh Yadav declared new national president of the party. Mulayam quickly declares as illegal the decisions made to give Akhilesh power
