Will Mulayam anoint Akhilesh successor ?

Cadres and leaders push for SP’s heir apparent to be given the post; Mulayam tightlipped about choice

Virendra Nath Bhatt Lucknow

Mulayam and Akhilesh Singh Yadav with Governor BL Joshi on Wednesday

There is immense pressure on leaders within the Samajwadi Party (SP) to make sure Akhilesh Yadav replaces his father Mulayam Singh Yadav as the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh after Holi. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh met the state Governor BL Joshi on Wednesday, which has added to the intense speculation that Akhilesh will be the next CM.

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However, Akhilesh Yadav said, “It was a courtesy call before Holi and nothing more than that; the party will stake its claim to form the next government after the meeting of the newly elected party MLAs on 10 March, after which the leader of the party will be elected.”

However, Mulayam Singh Yadav is under intense pressure from the rank and file of the party, particularly the youth, for elevating his son to the post of the CM. They hope that by nominating Akhilesh Yadav, the SP chief would not only give a young CM but also a youthful face to the SP government. “Mulayam Singh Yadav has outgrown the office of the CM; he should now move over to Delhi and handover the throne of Lucknow to Akhilesh Yadav,” said a youth leader of the party.

After the announcement of the poll results on 6 March, the SP chief had fuelled the aspirations of the cadres by saying that ‘the credit for the historic victory goes none other than to Akhilesh Yadav’ and that ‘he has earned the credit’. The SP cadres are constituted mostly of the youth, who have almost besieged the party office in Lucknow and have been raising slogans in favour of Akhilesh Yadav. The heir apparent of the party on Wednesday had to come out several times to pacify them; he asked them to wait till 10 March when the party will elect its new leader.

Sources say the SP chief favours the transition of power to Akhilesh Yadav smoothly and without resistance from any quarter, particularly the family and the senior leader Azam Khan, who has won the election from Rampur with a record margin of over 62,000 votes. SP sources said the old guards of the party have voiced their reservation against the elevation of Akhilesh Yadav as CM since he is too young and has no experience of serving in the government.

However, analysts and party leaders favouring Akhilesh Yadav say it will be difficult for the party to give a categorical message to the masses by delaying his elevation since he has worked tirelessly for giving a new image to the party and fighting the perception of the ‘goondaism’ associated with the party since its inception in 1992.

“Akhilesh Yadav has, in a simple manner, repeatedly stated in his election meetings that he wants to change the face of UP, which is laggard in all spheres of development but this is not possible without his elevation as the CM of UP, a political analyst said.

And SP leaders are hailing the work done by Akhilesh too. “The pollsters, political analysts and the media are all discussing the overwhelming support SP got in the elections, but none is talking of the issue that during the last five years it was only the SP which fought the tyranny of the BSP government,” said Ashok Mishra, former state secretary of the CPI. “Akhilesh Yadav launched his Rath Yatra in September last year and covered more than 300 Assembly seats before the elections were announced whereas by then neither had Rahul Gandhi taken the plunge nor had the BJP projected Uma Bharti as its OBC face for UP elections; eventually, when the Congress entered the poll battle it was fighting more against the SP rather than the ruling Bahujan Samaj party,” Mishra added. Adding to this point a political analyst said, “UP assembly elections have put Akhilesh Yadav head and shoulder above the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi; now it is for Rahul Gandhi to become the Akhilesh for the Congress party.”

Akhilesh was also the one behind the move to commit 18 percent reservations for Muslims after Union Ministers from the Congress – Salman Khurshid, Beni Prasad Verma and Sriprakash Jaiswal – played the quota card.

A senior SP leader also pointed out that unlike the BJP and the Congress, the SP never ‘hired’ the services of cine stars for pulling crowd in election meetings. “I never felt the need of film stars, we contested the elections and sought support of the people on the basis of our programmes and policies so there was no role for the Bollywood stars,” Akhilesh said talking to Tehelka.

Meanwhile, the profile and skyline of state capital have undergone a sea change with the blue posters and hoardings of the BSP and Mayawati being replaced by the red colour of the SP and hoardings welcoming Akhilesh Yadav.

Virendra Nath Bhatt is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.
virendranathbhatt@gmail.com

Editing by Arpit Parashar

Soruce- Tehelka.com