Samajwadi Party: internal rifts
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The Yadav family of SP
From its political origins to early 2022
Radhika Ramaseshan, January 26, 2022: The Times of India
Mulayam was not born in a political home. His father, Sughar Singh, was a small farmer in Saifai (Etawah), a village that his mother, Moorti Devi, recalled as a row of huts lying on “ usar zameen” (barren land), in a biography on Mulayam by Ram Singh and Anshuman Yadav. Decades later, the inhabitants of Amethi, which was the Gandhis’ fief until 2019, enviously compared Saifai with Dubai and pined for an MP like Mulayam to burnish their uncared-for town. A mega stadium — which hosted Bollywood jamborees annually when the Yadavs ruled — gyms, a sports complex, schools and colleges, Saifai is self-contained.
Political lore has it that Mulayam was the protégé of Ram Manohar Lohia, the socialist legend who was an associate of Jayaprakash Narayan. Lohia founded the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), which spawned various versions culminating in the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP).
A former associate recalled that Mulayam had met Lohia just once, in 1967, at the Etawah railway station when the socialist leader was on his way to Kannauj to contest a Lok Sabha election on an SSP ticket. Commander Arjun Singh Bhadauria, an Etawah-based SSP leader, introduced them in Mulayam’s only tryst with Lohia. But he was so enamoured of Lohia since his days at Etawah’s KK College that when his “hero” won a by-election from Farrukhabad in 1962, Mulayam distributed sweets to celebrate the victory.
Mulayam’s real mentor was Natthu Singh, a PSP politician, who first spotted him at an amateur wrestling tournament in Etawah. Mulayam was into combat sports from his school days. Despite his pint size, he overpowered his taller and strapping rival. Natthu Singh was most impressed when he learnt that Mulayam was pursuing post-graduate studies and liked debating. He took Mulayam under his wings. In 1967, Natthu Singh forfeited claim over his seat, Jaswant Nagar, and fielded Mulayam, who won.
It was as the cooperatives minister in the Janata Party government in UP, headed by Ram Naresh Yadav, that Mulayam earned his political spurs. He leveraged his position to augment the number of rural cooperatives in agriculture and dairy farming. “Importantly, he used the ministry to bring in the Yadavs into cooperatives in a big way and break the stranglehold of the upper castes. He identified himself as a Yadav leader,” said Shri Prabandh Tripathi, a Mulayam watcher and a former editor of Dainik Savera, an Etawah daily.
This, however, is not entirely accurate. Through his peregrination in UP’s socialist parties — the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Janata Party and finally the Samajwadi Party (SP) — Mulayam nurtured and promoted a range of caste leaders. They included Janeshwar Mishra, a Bhumihar; Brij Bhushan Tiwari and Rama Shankar Kaushik, both Brahmins; Mohan Singh, a Rajput; and Ram Saran Das, a Gujjar. However, he would not trust anyone with building and caring for the SP’s organisation as much as Shivpal Singh Yadav, his youngest brother. When Mulayam was the CM, Shivpal’s wife, Sarla, who involved herself in politics, was known as the First Lady of Etawah. Mulayam’s wife, Malti Devi, was ailing for a long time and died in 2003.
Akhilesh was their only child. Mulayam was up against his biggest challenge when he handed over power to his first son. He was married a second time to Sadhna Gupta, with whom he had a relationship since the 1990s and a son, Prateek.
It was in the late ’90s that ‘Netaji’ (the moniker for Mulayam) ushered in a new cast of characters in his political and personal life. Until then, he kept the two spheres apart. He dabbled in hardcore politicking, and once got the better of Rajiv Gandhi, then the prime minister, before the 1991 elections. Mulayam was the CM and assured Rajiv of an alliance in lieu of keeping his minority government alive over a dinner hosted in Delhi by an industrialist. The next day, Mulayam returned to Lucknow, recommended the dissolution of the assembly and asked for fresh elections. Rajiv was stumped.
Enter Amar Singh, the mover and shaker, who shook the SP in more ways than one. He unveiled to Mulayam the glitz and glamour of Bollywood and the power of India Inc. Singh brought the Bachchans and Mulayam together. The Bachchans, Amar (who passed away in 2020) and Anil Ambani were a threesome with Subrata Roy, Lucknow’s Sahara empire builder, for company now and then. In 2007, the SP, perceived as a decadent entity and not a throbbing party, was voted out of power.
Between 2007 and 2012 (before the next election), Akhilesh was launched as the political heir. He had debuted in the Lok Sabha from Kannauj. A proud Mulayam once introduced him to the late Congressman S Jaipal Reddy, who predated Shashi Tharoor as Parliament’s walking Thesaurus, saying, “Jaipal ji, like you my son speaks good English.” This from a leader who publicly ranted against the use of English.
Akhilesh discarded the baggage inherited from a muddled socialist past. He rejected his father’s associates with dubious antecedents and most of all, had no use for Amar Singh. Singh hit back by making an alliance with Sadhna Gupta and Prateek and fuelling the ambitions of Prateek’s wife, Aparna, the politically pushy daughter of a former Lucknow journalist. Akhilesh fashioned his own cabal out of the SP’s student activists and street fighters who have since stood steadfastly with him through the family feuds and split.
An incipient sign of clan trouble was visible during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Mulayam fought from two places: Mainpuri and Azamgarh. The bazaar gossip was that he was “warming up” Azamgarh for Prateek, Akhilesh’s stepbrother. Sadhna, his mother, pressured Mulayam to share the family’s political spoils with her son. The move was scotched by Ramgopal Yadav, Mulayam’s cousin and Rajya Sabha MP. Ramgopal was Akhilesh’s firmest ally through turbulent times.
Eventually, it was Prateek’s wife, Aparna, who made the cut in politics not from the SP but the BJP that she recently joined. Sadhna had hoped to collaborate with Shivpal Yadav and Sarla in her face-off with Akhilesh. But Akhilesh scuppered her designs by making peace with Shivpal, who had damaged the SP after parting ways in 2019.
As things stack up, the Yadav family is divided between Akhilesh and his stepmother. Two iconic pictures captured the family’s plight: the first depicted Mulayam blessing Akhilesh before the latter launched his election campaign. A second showed him laying his hand on Aparna’s head a day after she crossed over to the BJP. In the autumn of his life, the patriarch, who battled the BJP tooth and nail in his younger life, couldn’t have asked for anything worse.
2016: Family feuds
The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India, Jul 02 2016]
Subhash Mishra
Four years ago when he became UP's youngest chief minister, Akhilesh took on his chin the jibes of UP having “four-anda-half CMs“ -the four being his father Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, uncles Ram Gopal and Shivpal and Mulayam's closest aide Azam Khan. Akhilesh was the half. He has come a long way since.
As the 43-year-old CM pushes through with his decisions, the fault lines within the family seem to be wide in the open: the latest is the friction over the SP taking into its fold Qaumi Ekta Dal, the party founded by three Ansari brothers, one of whom, goon-MLA Mukhtar Ansari is behind bars for the murder of an ex-BJP MLA. In the swift actionreaction that played out over barely a week, Shivpal announced the merger with QED, believed to be Mulayam's idea. Akhilesh sacked the minister who facilitated the merger, then took a step back to announce there were no differences within the family . Within a day though, SP called off the merger and the father-son duo seemed to have called a truce.As the merger was cancelled, Akhilesh took the minister back. The incident has left uncle Shivpal a bitter man. But this is only the latest in a string of issues where the SP's traditional balance of power has been upset. For years the unwritten code was Mulayam called the shots and Shivpal executed his orders as more and more family members became netas. The Mulayam clan today is easily India's biggest political family: there are, at last count, 20 members holding political office including a chief minister, six MPs and a senior minister.
It wasn't for nothing that a few months after Akhilesh was made CM that MSY showed his irritation over Akhilesh's ministers' poor performance. It was then seen as a father advising his `obedient' son. Akhilesh was expected to follow tradition, strike a fine balance working on the orders of his father and uncle.
But Akhilesh has bent the father-uncle axis on many decisions ever since his father nominated him CM after SP's landslide win in 2012; a move that had reportedly made Shivpal unhappy . “He's been Mulayam's Man Friday for nearly two decades. He believed he was the heir apparent,“ says a political observer.At the time, uncle Ram Gopal stood solidly behind Akhilesh, and he was made CM.
Shivpal gradually came around, reconciled to his role as the Number Two in the government. However, when his political initiatives were overturned one after the other -in most cases at Akhilesh's insistence -his patience wore thin, say supporters.
Three instances have hurt him in particular. It was Shivpal who had formalised the pre-poll grand alliance `mahagathbandhan' in Bihar, attending several meetings to make it a reality. But just before the polls Mulayam walked out of the alliance; the two votaries against the `gathbandhan' were Akhilesh and Ram Gopal. Shivpal's second bid at forging an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal was publicly denounced by both Akhilesh and Ram Gopal. And now the QED fiasco.
Over the QED merger, Shivpal has also been painted as someone who does not hesitate to hobnob with lawless elements such as Mukhtar Ansari. To mark his protest, however muted, Shivpal skipped two programmes he had to attend with Akhilesh, including the swearing-in of new ministers. This triggered talk of a full-blown family tussle. Two days later, Shivpal turned up at brother Ram Gopal's 70th birthday celebrations, but it is said the warm vibes were missing.
The fissures in the open couldn't have shown up at a worse time -elections are months away . Not helping matters was the reportedly significant clash between the partychief father and CM-son over candidature to a family member. Aparna Yadav is Mulayam's younger son's wife. Mulayam has already announced her as party nominee from Lucknow Cantt, a move that Akhilesh had no idea about and reportedly wasn't for it. But understandably, he didn't make an issue of it.
The latest QED spat played out in public months before the end of Akhilesh's CMship.With a strong BJP on the one hand, and an unpredictable Mayawati on the other, the SP family's widening schisms can make the poll road a tricky manoeuvre.
Aug -30 Dec 2016: a timeline
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/how-a-family-feud-split-the-samajwadi-party/listshow/56258777.cms , How a family feud brought the Samajwadi Party on the verge of a split, The Times of India 30 Dec, 2016[
[On 30 Dec 2016], after months of turmoil and uneasy truces, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav expelled son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav from the party. Here's how the bitter feud unfolded and led to this dramatic action:
1. August 2016
• Akhilesh Yadav calls off merger with Mukhtar Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Dal.
• Shivpal Yadav claims he's being sidelined and threatens to resign.
• Elder brother Mulayam Singh intervenes and stops him from quitting.
2. September 2016
• Chief secretary and Shivpal loyalist Deepak Singhal is removed from his post by Akhilesh. Shivpal again threatens to quit.
• To mollify him, Mulayam appoints Shivpal as UP state president, replacing Akhilesh.
• The UP CM then strips his uncle of several important portfolios.
• In response, Shivpal resigns from the UP cabinet and the post of party president. He also expels Ram Gopal Yadav's nephew MLC Arvind Pratap Yadav for alleged involvement in land grabbing.
• The UP state unit president further dismisses seven youth leaders said to be close to Akhilesh for "indiscipline and anti-party activities".
3. October 2016
• Shivpal Singh Yadav releases new list of candidates for the upcoming UP assembly polls.
• In a clear snub to Akhilesh, Mulayam Singh says that the party’s chief ministerial candidate will be elected by the parliamentary board after the polls.
• Party MLC Udayveer Singh, who wrote a letter to Mulayam Singh in Akhilesh’s support, is expelled from the party for six years.
• At a meeting with party legislators, Akhilesh decides to sack Shivpal Yadav and some other senior leaders from the party.
• Ardent Akhilesh supporter Ram Gopal Yadav is expelled from the party after he wrote an open letter stating only Akhilesh can lead the party to victory. Shivpal also alleges Ram Gopal of "conspiring" against him and the party by colluding with the BJP.
• A day later, in a show of unity, Mulayam calls a press conference where he reinstates Shivpal and the other expelled leaders and proclaims that Akhilesh will remain CM.
4. November 2016
• Ram Gopal Yadav is reinstated to the party and all his previous posts on Mulayam Singh's instructions.
5. December 2016
• Mulayam Singh Yadav, along with brother Shivpal Singh, announced the candidates for 325 of the 403 assembly seats in UP while Akhilesh was away on a trip.
• The list of candidates left out several pro-Akhilesh ministers. Ten ministers on the list had been sacked by the chief minister and had openly defied him in the past.
• Akhilesh then released a parallel list of 235 candidates for the assembly elections.
• SP supremo Mulayam Singh issued a show cause notice against Akhilesh for this act of rebellion, leading general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav to call an emergency meeting of the party.
• On 30 Dec 2016 evening, Mulayam Singh, flanked by brother Shivpal Yadav told media that Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav were expelled from the party for six years for "indiscipline and anti-party activities".
• A new chief minister will be chosen by the Samajwadi Party.
(Compiled by Devika Bhattacharya)
The details are as below
The rift of Sept 2016
Crisis originated at Amar’s party?
It All Began at Amar Singh's 5-Star Bash?
When Mulayam Singh Yadav attended a glittering do hosted by long-time associate and party MP Amar Singh at a Delhi 5-star hotel on Sunday night, little did he know it would trigger a family feud, endangering his party's prospects months ahead of the assembly elections.
The avalanche of trouble got activated at this party, attended by Mulayam's younger brother Shivpal Yadav and former chief secretary (sacked by CM Akhilesh Yadav after the event) Deepak Singhal. Akhilesh, who's always had reservations over Amar Singh's proximity to Mulayam and his return to SP , was not present.
At the gathering, Amar Singh, in Singhal's presence, is learnt to have told Mulayam that CBI was zeroing in on Gayatri Prajapati, then state mining minister and his arrest could spell trouble for the family , party and the government.
On Monday , Mulayam called Amar Singh and Singhal to his Delhi residence, insiders told TOI. When both stood by what they had said the previous night, Mulayam apparently called Akhilesh and asked him to change the portfolios of Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh.
Akhilesh, unhappy with both, sacked them.
On Tuesday , Prajapati met Mulayam in Delhi. He insist ed that Amar Singh and Sin ghal's claims were baseless.
Sources close to the party su premo said Gayatri convinced Mulayam that he was being made a victim of injustice.
This made Mulayam ask Akhilesh to re move Singhal. The CM, said to be displeased with Singhal, followed the orders.
Stung by the action, Sin ghal rushed to Mulayam and clarified that he did not have a view on the ministers. He had been merely listening to Amar Singh.
Soon Amar Singh, in Luc know till Tuesday forenoon, flew to Delhi and met Mulay am, and pleaded with him to reinstate Singhal. It is learnt that Mulayam called Akhilesh again on Tuesday , asking him to reinstate Singhal, Prajapati and Raj Kishore Singh.
Akhilesh turned down the request, sources said, saying this would send out a wrong message so close to the polls and ahead of his state-wide campaign. Mulayam then tried to rope in cousin Ram Gopal Yadav to convince Akhilesh. But the CM held his ground. Annoyed, Mulayam got him removed from the state president's post and handed it over to Shivpal.
Akhilesh hit back stripping Shivpal of key portfolios -PWD, irrigation, co-operatives and revenue.Shivpal, who was at Etawah, left for Delhi on Wednesday and met Mulayam.
CM not mollified
TWO KEY FIGURES AT THE HEART OF THE RIFT IN LUCKNOW'S FAMILY NO. 1
In the eye of the latest storm that's hit the SP family , Gayatri Prasad Prajapati has had MSY's support for long. He first sprung on the `SP notables' stage when he shared space with the brass at a 2011 Agra convention and announced a donation of Rs 25 lakh to the party.
Armed with a poverty card, the property dealer went on to defeat Congressman Sanjay Sinh's wife Amita Sinh to win Amethi in the 2012 assembly polls -his first victory in the Congress stronghold, having contested from here regularly since 1993. Once he won, he hired a PR agency , a first for any SP neta. Prajapati was rewarded with position of junior minister of irrigation under Shivpal in February 2013.
Thereafter, he took oath with every expansion till January 2014 -from being MoS mining to getting independent charge in 2013. He was made cabinet minister for mining in January 2014.
Akhilesh Yadav may have sacked him over graft charges on Monday , but corruption allegations aren't new to Prajapati. Before the 2002 polls, he had declared his net worth at Rs 91,436.By 2012, his immovable assets were worth Rs 1.2 crore, movable assets Rs 51 lakh.
A complaint with the Lokayukta ac cused him of owning assets worth Rs 942 crore. Although the former Lokayukta, NK Mehrotra, gave him a clean chit, RTI activist Nutan Thakur and IPS officer Amitabh Thakur got a court order to file an FIR against Prajapati.
That FIR was allegedly followed by a call from Mulayam to Thakur, who lodged a police complaint accusing the SP chief of threatening him. The episode brought the SP disrepute but did not dent his support for Prajapati. He has run to MSY this time too, but this time the complaint is against the chief 's son.
Peace moves
'Samajwadi Party made unintentional mistake removing Akhilesh as UP party chief', Ram Gopal Yadav says
NEW DELHI: "The Samajwadi Party (SP) leadership made a mistake - though not deliberately - by removing Akhilesh Yadav+ as the chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the SP," said Ram Gopal Yadav, another party leader, according to PTI.
The removal of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh as the state's party chief "led to a misunderstanding...the matter will be resolved," said Ram Gopal, who is one of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's brothers and one of Akhilesh's uncles. UP CM Akhileshdenied a family rift. " This is a fight in government, not a family fight ," Akhilesh told the media. "If people from outside the family keep interfering how will things (government) work". Speculation is that he was hinting at the involvement of not just he SP's Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, but also a bureaucrat named Deepak Singhal.
Roiling the family dynamic some more, is Akhilesh's father, Mulayam, who, it seems, supports his brother Shivpal over his son, and even met with Amar Singh not long ago.
First Mulayam gives Akhilesh edge over Shivpal
Nephew scores over chacha in family war Sep 18 2016 : The Times of India
Mulayam Singh Yadav was forced to tweak his peace formula on Saturday to give an assertive CM an important say in the selection of candidates for next year's polls. The SP chief 's outburst against Akhilesh soon after made it plain that the latter had wrested the gain in the face of resistance, reports Subhash Mishra.
Akhilesh restored some portfolios to uncle Shivpal Yadav and allotted some new ones, but he did not return PWD, which has a budget bigger than all of Shivpal's 13 departments put together.
Then Mulayam savages Akhilesh, placates Shivpal
`Is CM Because Of Me', Praises Brother Shivpal
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has never shied away from criticising his son Akhilesh, the chief minister of UP, in public. But on 17 Sept 2016, hours after tweaking his `peace formula' to give Akhilesh greater power -particularly in choosing candidates for the coming state elections -Mulayam launched arguably his most scathing attack yet on his son, comparing him unfavourably with his brother Shivpal.
Citing Shivpal's efforts in consolidating the support base of SP, he questioned Akhilesh's contribution towards the political success of the party . Mulayam said Shivpal was opposed to Akhilesh being made CM after the 2012 polls and had suggested that he be elevated to the position only after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But eventually , everybody agreed and Akhilesh became the CM.
“What happened despite his being the CM? Only five members from the family won.If I had listened to Shivpal, we would have won 30-35 seats and I would have been the PM.“ If Akhilesh is unhappy with Shivpal because of this (appointment of the latter as the SP state chief), he should remember that people have accepted him as CM because he is my son. He never had any individual standing in politics,“ Mulayam told SP workers at the party headquarters.
The most charitable spin that is being put on Mulayam's harsh remarks against his son and his praise for Shivpal is that they were aimed at placating his brother, who hasn't been getting along with Akhilesh. With assembly elections just a few months away , the war within the Yadav family comes at an inopportune moment for the SP .
The SP supremo said Akhilesh won the 2012 elections because of the promising party manifesto drafted by him along with Shivpal and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav. Terming the CM's ambitious projects like Metro as unnecessary , Mulayam said funds allocated for the project could have been used for welfare of farmers.
Mulayam said Shivpal had worked hard for the party . When a party worker demanded action against Amar Singh, Mulayam silenced him saying: “Do you know who Amar Singh is?“ Amar Singh, he said, had stood by him when all others had dumped him after a CBI probe began against him. Mulayam's comments on Amar Singh have put an end to speculation of action against the Thakur leader, at least in the near future.
Mulayam said most of the schemes the CM talks about were initiated by him. “Almost all the schemes he talks about were launched by me, be it Kanya Vidya Dhan, free power to farmers for irrigation, or free medicine to poor,“ he said Taking a dig at Akhilesh's proposed Vikas Rath Yatra, Mulayam said it was no big deal and he had also taken out such Yatras and won elections earlier.Mulayam said SP formed had government thrice before and he became Union defence minister when Akhilesh was not there on the political scene. “Today , Akhilesh holds the important post of CM and he should know how to take everybody along.“
Rival supporters take to the streets
Pervez IqbalSiddiqui, War within Yadav clan spills on to UP streets Sep 18 2016 : The Times of India
Saturday was a day of unprecedented protests in Lucknow's VIP zone, which houses the CM's residence, the SP office, and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's bungalow, with the war within the Yadav family spilling on to the streets.
The protests were initiated by the supporters of senior party member and Mulayam's brother Shivpal, after he resigned on Thursday night, but on Saturday , it was the youth brigade backing CM Akhilesh Yadav that turned belligerent, putting up a bigger show of strength. Akhilesh's supporters also held demonstrations in Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Bhadohi and Kanpur.
Thousands of protesters broke down barricades to reach MSY's house, demanding that Akhilesh be reinstated as the party's UP chief. The chiefs of SP-allied organisations -including Lohia Vahini, Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha, Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade and Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha -declared they won't work under Shivpal and put in their papers. The resignations were rejected by Akhilesh.
Members of SP's youth wing first gathered at the party headquarters around 9am, raising slogans -for example, “Netaji nyay karo, Akhilesh ko bahaal karo (Netaji do justice, reinstate Akhilesh)“ and “desh mein-pradesh mein, vishwas hai Akhilesh mein (in country and state, our trust lies in Akhilesh)“ -and insisting that SP's young workers were unwilling to work under any other state president.
Some of the protesters lay down on the road, causing a traffic jam. Some climbed up to treetops with posters of Akhilesh, chanting more slogans: “Yeh jawani hai qurbaan, Akhilesh bhaiya tere naam (We sacrifice our youth for Akhilesh)“ and “Samajwadi Party ki majboori hai, Akhilesh bhaiya zaroori hai (Akhilesh is important for SP).“
After two hours of demonstrations, they headed for Mulayam's residence about a kilometre away . Apart from Shivpal's appointment as state president, Akhilesh's supporters also expressed anger at SP's Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, described by the CM as an “outsider“ responsible for the war within. Protesters tore up his posters and slapped these with shoes. In Allahabad, supporters protested with posters, and claimed the youth in SP would not tolerate “any insult to the CM“.
The banners bore slogans like “chacha ko hataao, Samajwadi Party ko bachaao (Remove the uncle, save SP)“ and “youth ne thaana hai, Akhilesh ko adhyaksha banana hai“ (youths have pledged to make Akhilesh party chief)“.
In Varanasi, Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha activists burnt an effigy of `baahri log' (outsiders) and demanded the state party chief 's post for Akhilesh.
Oct 2016
The Times of India
Ram Gopal Yadav
Pervez Siddiqui, Ram Gopal's story: Three letters and a sacking, Oct 24 2016 : The Times of India
SP's former general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav drew the battle lines early on Sunday morning with a letter, his second since last Saturday (October 15), stating that Samajwadi Party's future lay with Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav.
In the open letter, Ram Gopal said his aim was to ensure that a government was formed in the state under the leadership of his nephew Akhilesh. In the missive, seen as a direct attack on SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, especially since he had asked his cousin to make way for Akhilesh in his earlier letter, Ram Gopal also stated that “some people in the party want to see Akhilesh Yadav lose“. Hours after Ram Gopal's letter, ad dressed to “pyare saathiyon (dear colleagues)“ -hit the social media, he was sacked from the party for six years.
The day ended with a third letter from Ram Gopal, issued in the evening, wherein he described his expulsion as the result of a “conspiracy by demonic forces who have surrounded the SP chief “. Referring to Mulayam as his guru (mentor) in politics, he once again vowed his support to Akhilesh and described the present crisis in the Yadav clan as a “dharam yuddh“.
Ram Gopal said Mulayam would only understand the reality after he was “freed from the clutches of the demonic forces“.
Mulayam’s strategy and legacy
To be called the most slippery of politicians by CPM neta Prakash Karat makes for a formidable reputation. It fed legends about the wily former wrestler's cunning “charkha dao“ in mud pits of the Hindi heartland, and Karat's exasperation over Mulayam's `U-turn' on the India-US nuclear deal only added another big political name to be inveigled by his googlies.
The long list would go on to include Trinamool neta Mamata Banerjee who was left close to tears when Mulayam abruptly ditched her in his plans to oppose Pranab Mukherjee as President. It is, therefore, no small irony that in the evening of his political life, Mulayam should be caught off guard by a clan war and pinned down by his own son with warring cousins adding to the feud.
Amid doomsday speculation about the fate of Samajwadi Party , just how Mulayam negotiates the landmines laid by his clansmen would deliver the final verdict on his famed shrewdness that often kept him ahead of rivals for five decades. How he takes his final bow is a legacy issue for Mulayam. And he is aware of it.
Ever since son and CM Akhilesh Yadav rebelled against uncle Shivpal last month and family members and partymen split on factional lines, Mulayam has maintained an enigmatic stance. He has appeared to side with his `Hanuman' brother Shivpal even as he shares a residence, and surely an evening word, with his seemingly straying son `Tipu'.Such is Mulayam's reputation that many still wonder if he has a secret move up his sleeve.
By general reckoning, the verdict on Mulayam would follow a simple formula. A split in SP with the son going the other way would mean that MSY failed in the trickiest test. He would feel let down in estimating that anointing Akhilesh will keep the family's political turf in loyal hands. But a peaceful settlement ahead of the crucial assembly polls next year will convey that he teetered on the edge but never lost balance.
It was no mean feat that the disciple of Charan Singh outwitted the late farmer leader's son Ajit back in the late 1980s, to capture the “Samajwadi“ platform. Over the years, his “pragmatism“ brought him chief ministership, Union ministership and cosy relationships with various PMOs, as ethics and colleagues fell by the wayside. In power or not, he was always in favour. He did not blink while cozying up to BJP to gain the CM's chair in 2003.
His success in effecting a generational transition made him stand out. Covetous cousins and colleagues could barely comprehend as he quietly installed Akhilesh as UP CM after a massive victory in 2012.In contrast, his contemporaries, M Karunanidhi and Bal Thackeray , failed to reconcile warring sons and nephews.Even Parkash Singh Badal has played it safe till now.
But just when Akhilesh is at the fag end of his first tenure, the household has been racked by the storm of soaring ambition. It will weigh on Mulayam that the shadows of his second wife and son Prateek also darken the plot. Either the son did not turn out to be as pliant as assumed or he misread the angst of cousins and their sons, or even his second wife.
The meetings over the coming days are essentially to prove that he is better than his socialist co-travellers in succession battles.
The importance of Amar Singh
The businessman with the reputation of being Mulayam's “crisis manager“, Amar Singh, is now one of the main reasons for the crisis in the Samajwadi Party .
What, though, makes Amar significant enough for Mulayam to publicly upbraid his son? Mulayam's friendship with Amar goes back to the days when Veer Bahadur Singh was chief minister of the Congress government in UP in 1985-88. Amar joined SP formally in 1996 and went to Rajya Sabha, courtesy Mulayam.
Amar came close to Mulayam during the 1996 Third Front government, giving him a chance to liaise with the who's who in Delhi. Amar raised funds for SP , served as a bridge between the party and industrialists and brought Bollywood to Saifai's simplistic politics. When Mulayam became defence minister in the Third Front government, Amar assumed the role of the second-most powerful man in SP . The Amar-Mulayam dosti reached its peak in 2003 when Singh played a crucial role in engineering defections in the Bahujan Samaj Party to form an SP government in UP . Singh then used his caste clout to swing it for Mulayam.
Later, Mulayam formed the UP Development Council with Singh as chairperson.Members of the council included Anil Ambani, Adi and Parmeshwar Godrej, Kumar Mangalam Birla, L K Khaitan and Subrata Roy Sahara. Actor Amitabh Bachchan became UP's brand ambassador. Amar Singh even arranged for former US president Bill Clinton to visit Lucknow. In 2008, Amar and Mulayam were instrumental in saving the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre on the Indo-US nuclear deal trust vote where Amar was accused of bribing three BJP MPs to vote for UPA.
Amar's rise in the SP ranks also resulted in the gradual marginalisation of other biggies in the party . Beni Prasad Verma, Raj Babbar and Azam Khan were gradually pushed to the fringes, with both Babbar and Azam getting expelled from the party on charges of indiscipline.The beginning of Amar's end in the SP , though, came with the political coup he allegedly essayed against Mulayam's daughter-in-law Dimple, in her electoral debut from Firozabad, against SP rebel Babbar. Dimple was to contest the Lok Sabha by-polls in November 2009 after Akhilesh vacated the seat. Following Dimple's poll drubbing, Amar was eventually expelled from SP in February 2010.
Since his return to SP after his six-year exile, Amar Singh has been trying to regain the space he once enjoyed. His greatest accomplishment in Mulayam's own words: Freeing Mulayam from the clutches of a particularly complicated legal case that could have seen the SP chief in jail.
Senior SP functionaries suggest Mulayam is keen to re-establish communication channels with the powers that be in New Delhi, and believe Amar Singh still holds the key . Akhilesh throwing a spanner in the works, though, was the reason for Mulayam's Monday outburst.
Quote- unquote/ Who said what/ Oct 2016
The Times of India
The Times of India
As on Oct 24, 2016
AMAR KATHA, Oct 25 2016 : The Times of India
Amar Singh sat with you for three hours.You can remove me if you want, but find out from your sources; Amar Singh said there'll be upheaval in UP politics in October and that Akhilesh will not be CM in November. Ram Gopal ji didn't say that. If someone conspires against you and your party, I am compelled to speak: Akhilesh Yadav
I've been in touch with Amar Singh. But I've never hidden I met him. Tum log to unke pairo ki dhool ke layak bhi nahi ho (you are not worth the dust of his feet): Shivpal Yadav
Amar Singh is my younger brother. You can abuse me, but he's the one who saved me from going to jail. I cannot give up on Amar Singh & Shivpal.Amar respects me. When he'd visit, he would sit at my feet: Mulayam Singh Yadav
Letters fly back and forth
Swati Mathur, Akhilesh treated shabbily: Letter, Oct 25 2016 : The Times of India
The Times of India
Another letter bomb surfaced in the Samajwadi Party camp on Monday morning, adding an as yet unexposed dimension to the raging Yadav Pari-War -that the men of the house are not the only ones squabbling for supremacy .
The two-page note written by Firozabad MP Akshay Yadav, son of sacked SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, attempts to corner SP state president Shivpal Yadav and hints at widening differences in the Samajwadi household. On Sunday , Shivpal had accused Ram Gopal, of colluding with the BJP to save his son, daughter-in-law and himself from the CBI in the multicrore Yadav Singh case.
Akshay's letter comes soon after Akhilesh aide Udayveer Singh's missive had hinted that Mulayam's second wife, Sadhna Gupta, had driven a wedge between father and son and is the first acknowlegement by an SP family member that all is not well in the Samajwadi kitchens. Akshay writes, “Akhilesh Yadav was harassed mentally but delivered on his development goals in UP . Lately, however, he was treated so badly in the family that on the day he shifted to his new house, Akhilesh's belongings in his old quarters were thrown out and the rooms locked up. Those who did this then went abroad.“
Akshay does not identify anyone in his open letter but suggests Shivpal is “jealous“ of Akhilesh's rise in the party and wants to be CM himself. It also returns fire at Shivpal, accusing him of colluding with the BJP ,a charge that Shivpal had levelled at Ram Gopal just a day earlier.
Dec 30, 2016: the split
Mulayam’s point of view
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on 30 Dec, 2016 shook the political ground in Uttar Pradesh with just months to go for the Assembly elections. He expelled his son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his cousin and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years.
Here are the top 5 things Mulayam said:
1. To save the party, both ‘Professor’ Ram Gopal and the Chief Minister (Akhilesh Yadav) are being expelled from the party for six years.
2. Ram Gopal is misguiding Akhilesh and is destroying his future. Akhilesh does not understand this. Hasn’t his future been destroyed because of all this?
3. I will decide who will be the chief minister.
4. I have worked very hard to make this party what it is today. What has their role been? I work hard, and they reap the fruits?
5. To us, the party is most important. Our top priority is to save the party.
31 Dec: A U-turn and a united party
However,, on 31 Dec 2016, Over 200 of the 229 party MLAs turned up expressing their loyalty to the chief minister
Some SP MLCs and senior party functionaries loyal to Akhilesh also attended the meeting at the chief minister's official residence
Therefore, Samjawadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav decided on the same day to revoke the expulsion of Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Ramgopal after a massive show of strength by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Outside the chief minister's residence, high drama was witnessed with youth supporters of Akhilesh assembling in large numbers to vent their fury over his expulsion and that of his uncle Ramgopal Yadav.
Akhilesh loyalists also exchanged blows with supporters of SP state unit chief Shivpal Yadav outside party headquarters in the high security VIP zone where heavy police deployment made the entire place look like a battle zone.
Faced with an imminent split which could have drastically reduced his clout, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav decided to revoke the expulsion of Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav+ .
As the embattled Samajwadi Party faced its worst ever crisis+ , RJD supremo Lalu Prasad sought to bring the warring groups together by speaking to Mulayam to broker peace.
All is well in Samajwadi Party now, Azam Khan commented
‘What problem can a father have with his son? Only that he should meet him & consider his advice that is for his well being’ Azam Khan said
‘Netaji has built the party. I consider him the 'Bâghbân' (creator, founder) of the party. He is a father as well as the party Chief’ Azam Khan said
Earlier, Akhilesh had also reportedly met Priyanka Gandhi to discuss possibilities of a tie-up. (Akhilesh Yadav met Priyanka Gandhi to discuss tie-up, TNN |Dec 31, 2016, The Times of India)
Azam played peacemaker
Pervez IqbalSiddiqui, Azam plays peacemaker between father and son, Jan 1, 2017: The Times of India
UP minister and trusted Mulayam Singh Yadav aide Azam Khan played the peacemaker on Saturday when he persuaded father and son, Akhilesh Yadav, to bury the hatchet. Moments later, the SP patriarch revoked the expulsion of his son Akhilesh and cousin Ram Gopal.
Azam said the truce followed a highly “emotional“ discussion between father and son during which he was present. “When a son gets upset with his father, it's always the latter who has to cheer him up, irrespective of who is at fault,“ Azam said.
He added that the main point of discord between Mulayam and Akhilesh was his and Ram Gopal's expulsion from the party . “Netaji agreed to re voke their suspension immediately ,“ Azam said. He said issues like accommodating Akhilesh's choices in the party's official candidate list for the 2017 polls were minor issues and would be resolved soon.“
Earlier in the day , Azam had held two meetings with Mulayam lasting over 90 minutes each, after which he drove to Akhilesh's residence.
Barely 15 minutes later, the two went to meet Mulayam.Sources said Azam made an emotional appeal before Akhilesh to do his bit to stop the party from splitting. About an hour later Mulayam called for his younger brother and SP state president Shivpal Singh Yadav, who announced that the expulsion orders had been revoked.
Azam said Mulayam was no longer averse to the idea of Akhilesh calling the special convention of the party but added: “The convention will be held as people have already been invited.“ He said, however, that it would be of a different nature now.
It was Ram Gopal's move to call an emergency convention that had irked Mulayam to the extent that he expelled him and Akhilesh from the party.
Jan 1, 2017: SP split again
On Jan 1, 2017, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s name was unanimously elected as the national working president of the Samajwadi Party. Mulayam Singh Yadav would be marg darshak [guide, mentor] of the party.
During the meet, Ramgopal Yadav also proposed for the expulsion of Amar Singh and removal of Shivpal as party’s state president. According to news reports, Shivpal Yadav offered to step down from the party’s UP president post.
Hours later party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav termed all the resolutions passed during the meet as “illegal”. “Today’s meet organised by Ramgopal is unconstitutional,” Mulayam said, adding, “Ramgopal Yadav has been expelled from party for six years.” The Times of India
Jan 2017: Election Commission settles the issue
EC: Akhilesh to keep 'cycle' symbol, party's presidency
HIGHLIGHTS
The Election Commission decided to give Akhilesh Yadav the SP's 'cycle' symbol
EC also acknowledged Akhilesh as the party's national president
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission granted the disputed 'cycle' symbol of the Samajwadi Party to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav today.
The three-member EC, headed by Nasim Zaidi, ruled in favour of Akhilesh after examining documents signed by party members advocating support to the young party leader.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, counsel to Akhilesh's faction, attested to the same.
The dispute over the party symbol arose following election of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as the SP national president at a convention on January 1.
At the same convention, incumbent president Mulayam Singh Yadav was made the patron of the party.
This was contested by Mulayam, who approached the EC and conveyed to it that he continues to be the party president and the election symbol should remain with his faction.
This was challenged by the other side, which filed affidavits by various party office bearers, MPs, MLAs and district presidents to claim that the majority was with the chief minister's faction, hence it was entitled to the symbol.
As a contingency, both factions had zeroed in on alternate symbols in case the 'cycle' was frozen. The Mulayam faction is believed to be considering Lok Dal's symbol of 'farmer with a plough'.
After winning 'cycle' symbol, Akhilesh Yadav meets Mulayam Singh, TNN & Agencies | Jan 16, 2017
"EC dealt with the issue at various angles. By January 9, the Akhilesh group filed all documents at various levels. But the Mulayam group did not respond to the commission's direction and that meant they really had no evidence of their support claim," Sibal said after the verdict.
The EC said the group led by Akhilesh Yadav is the Samajwadi Party and is entitled to use the 'bicycle' symbol. It also acknowledged Akhilesh Yadav as the national president of the Samajwadi Party.
A mere look at the figures of supporting MLAs, MLCs and MPs, national executive members and national convention delegates "will evidently demonstrate that Shri Akhilesh Yadav enjoys overwhelming majority support, both among the organisational and legislative wing of the party", the EC said in its order.
"As a logical consequence of the above finding and applying the test of majority approved by the Supreme Court in the case of Sadiq Ali and consistently applied by the Commission thereafter in all cases of disputes in recognised political parties arising before it from time to time for determination in terms of para 15 of the Symbols Order, the Commission hereby answers the issue number 2 by holding that the group led by Shri Akhilesh Yadav is the Samajwadi Party and is entitled to use its name and its reserved symbol 'bicycle' for the purposes of Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment Order, 1968)," the EC said in its 46-page order.
The commission noted that Akhilesh's faction had filed the affidavits of 205 of the 228 MLAs, 56 out of 68 MLCs, 15 out of 24 MPs [4 Lok Sabha MPs, 11 RS MPs], 28 out of 46 National Executive members and 4400 out of 5731 National Convention delegates which accounted for total delegates of 4716 out of 5731.
The order said Mulayam Singh's side did not file any affidavit of MPs or MLAs or any delegates claiming allegiance to it with the SP supremo maintaining that there was no split in the party needing determination of a dispute.
As soon as he got the news, Akhilesh went to meet his father to seek his blessings.
"Cycle chalti jayegi, aage badhti jayegi... (The cycle will continue to move, it will keep going ahead)," Akhilesh tweeted.
Interestingly, the EC announcement came hours after Akhilesh supporters put up his brand new name plate at the SP headquarters that read "Akhilesh Yadav, Party President" strategically positioned directly under his father's nameplate which mentions Mulayam as "Party President".
Mulayam accepts reality
A day after the Election Commission's verdict installed UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as the president of the Samajwadi Party , Mulayam Singh Yadav surrendered to the new reality . In a public declaration of his acceptance of Akhilesh's ascendancy , Mulayam handed him a list of around 38 candidates he wants accommodated as SP candidates, without any rider.
In political circles, Mulayam's move is being likened to the signing of a surrender document. It showed that the veteran leader won't be putting up his candidates if his demand of a meagre 38 seats is accepted. Sources said now that Akhilesh is the unchallenged party boss, he's likely to take along the entire family -including those who opposed him in the internal feud that lasted more than four months. “The EC's Monday verdict has not only changed the hierarchy of the powerful Yadav family and SP, but also demolished Akhilesh's image of being a captive in the hands of his uncles and father,“ said a political analyst. “Mulayam's defence at the poll panel that had started with a bang 15 days ago ended with a whimper,“ he added.
Earlier reports said Mu layam's list included the name of his `chhoti bahu' Aparna Yadav from Lucknow Cantonment. It was said that Shivpal, who has been winning from Jaswantnagar, didn't want to contest as he was supposed to go to central politics. But, the defeated former state SP chief later told his confidants that he would contest from Jaswantnagar.
Names of Shivpal and Aparna were part of the list Mulayam had released on December 28. Akhilesh came out with a separate list of 235 candidates the next day , in which he didn't name candidates for Jaswantnagar and Lucknow Cantonment.
The list includes names of many Mulayam-Shivpal loyalists who had sided with them during the four-month-long feud. These include former minister Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai, Ambika Chaudhary and Shadaab Fatima.
Akhilesh, in turn, glorifies father
Sultan Tipu makes dad king on poster Jan 19 2017 : The Times of India
Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav may not be the party national president, but he will lead the election campaign, with a new poster showing Akhilesh Yadav offering his father to take the poll mantle.
In the poster, Akhilesh is seen as promising his father with folded hands “aap ki cycle sada chalegi aap ke naam se. Phir pradesh ka dil jitenge hum milkar apne kam se.(Your cycle will always be with you. We will together in the heart of the people with our work).“ Mulayam's photograph is much bigger than that of Akhilesh in the poster.
The move is being seen as an attempt by Akhilesh to send out the message that he hasn't shown any disrespect to his father. The father and the son had been locked in a bitter battle for control over the party and its symbol for the past four months. But Monday's EC verdict settled the dispute in Akhilesh's favour. It has been decided that the poster will be used extensively during the campaign, and senior leaders have been told to ensure that Mulayam's photographs should appear prominently during electioneering, sources told TOI.
Bitterness resumes after SP’s electoral defeat
HIGHLIGHTS
Mulayam slammed his son for being disrespectful towards him.
The SP founder said he has "never been insulted so much" in his life.
Mulayam lamented that it was tragedy that his son joined hands with the Congress.
Mulayam hits out at Akhilesh, says 'one who can ditch his father, can never be loyal to anyone'
Mulayam defends Akhilesh, says no one person responsible for defeat
Arrogance of alliance responsible for SP's debacle, says Mulayam
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party+ patriarch on Saturday launched a scathing attack on his son and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav+ saying that the latter "humiliated and betrayed him".
Mulayam further said that Akhilesh doesn't pay him the due respect. "When he (Akhilesh) doesn't respect his father (Mulayam), how will people respect him?" Mulayam asked.
"While the people of UP voted for me in 2012, I chose to make Akhilesh the chief minister, but he humiliated me thereafter," he said, adding that he has "never been insulted so much" in his life. The senior Yadav also pointed out that, unlike him, no one in the history of India named their son the chief minister despite still being active in politics.
Mulayam also quoted a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kannauj during the state assembly elections that how can a man who has insulted his father be loyal to the people of the state. Endorsing the PM's views, Mulayam said, " Ye sahi hai ki jo baap ka nahin hua, wo kisi ka nahin ho sakta. "
In Mainpuri to inaugurate a hotel, the former Union defence minister claimed that it was this statement of Modi that affected the voters and led to the massive defeat of the Samajwadi Party. "But I did not say anything to anyone as my own blood was out against me," the three-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister added and lamented that it was a tragedy that his son joined hands with the Congress, a party which led "murderous attacks" on him not once but thrice.
The former Union defence minister had expelled his son and then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav+ and his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years just a few weeks before the assembly polls. Flanked by brother Shivpal Yadav, who had been at loggerheads with Akhilesh, Mulayam said he had taken the action against Akhilesh and Ramgopal to save the party which he had built through hard efforts.
(With inputs from agencies)
2018
2018: Shivpal floats own ‘front’
The bitter feud in the first family of Samajwadi Party came out in the open again when Shivpal Yadav, younger brother of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and estranged uncle of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, floated Samajwadi Secular Morcha on Wednesday and called upon all “disgruntled” and “neglected” members of the party to join it.
Shivpal, who was sulking for being sidelined in the party since Akhilesh took over as president, claimed he had Mualayam’s blessings.
Shivpal said the Morcha would contest 2019 polls and would begin the campaign on August 31 from Muzaffarnagar. “I have decided my future course. Now it’s up to the SP chief to decide what action he has to take,” he said.
When Shivpal went to meet Mulayam, the SP patriarch reportedly expressed his inability to foster a rapprochement between him and Akhilesh.
Mulayam’s daughter in law Aparna bats for Shivpal
Rohan Dua, October 14, 2018: The Times of India
The wrangling in UP’s Yadav family just took another turn after Mulayam Singh Yadav’s other daughterin-law Aparna sought fortification of rebel leader Shivpal Yadav’s new party while sharing stage with her.
“I want that Samawjadi Secular Morcha progresses. After my father-in-law, if there is respect for any other strong political leader, it is my uncle (Shivpal),” said Aparna. Her comments came barely 24 hours after Mulayam himself shared space with Shivpal in an event marking the death anniversary of socialist leader and SP ideologue Dr Ram Manohar Lohia here on Friday.
She made the remarks while attending an event organised by Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party in Lucknow. Aparna had unsuccessfully contested 2017 polls on a SP ticket and lost to BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi. She sat next to Shivpal on the dais and was seen bowing before Shivpal while seeking his blessings. She kept referring to him as “chachaji” during her address.
See also
Samajwadi Party: internal rifts
