Break point: Is Shivpal splitting the Samajwadi Party without Mulayam’s consent?

After months of posturing, Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, finally announced the formation of a new morcha, or ginger group, on 5 May.

He said that the new formation would be called the Samajwadi Secular Morcha and will be led by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam’s cousin Ramgopal Yadav had divested Mulayam and Shivpal of their posts before taking control of the Samajwadi Party just before the recent Assembly elections in UP where the party lost to the BJP in a humiliating defeat.

A fresh innings

The objective of the morcha, Shivpal said in Etawah, will be to restore Mulayam’s honour and bring together all the Samajwadis. 

However, as Mulayam himself has not yet said anything about leading the new faction, political watchers are unsure of how this situation will pan out.

The objective of the new faction, Shivpal said in Etawah, will be to restore Mulayam’s honour

“Mulayam, so far, who is known for his ambivalence, has not shown his cards. Unless he accepts the leadership of the new party, we would stand by Akhilesh,” said Congress spokesman Surendra Rajput. 

“So far no one knows if the Samajwadi Secular Morcha will have any MLAs supporting it as, in our assessment, the newly-elected legislators were all behind Akhilesh,” Rajput said ruling out any Congress support for the new secular front.

A fresh crop of trouble

A source in the Akhilesh camp sounded concerned at matters coming to a head saying that the move does not augur well and the BJP may exploit the situation.

Not wanting to be named, he hoped that like in the past Netaji, as Mulayam is known, will go with Akhilesh. “In the past, he always sided with his son but if he accepts the leadership of the new party, then it will be problematic for Akhilesh,” he says.

At the time of usurping the party’s leadership, Akhilesh had said that he wanted to lead the party into the elections and hand over the baton back to Mulayam after three months.

But even when those three months drew to an end, he did not hand over the reigns of the party despite losing terribly in the election.

On 3 May, Shivpal reiterated to the media that Akhilesh had asked for three months and that if he “does not step down then I will form a secular front.” Shivpal has repeatedly called for Akhilesh to step down.

Without naming Ramgopal, his cousin, Shivpal described him as Shakuni, a character from Mahabharata, who plotted the feud between Kauravs and Pandavs. “What has been done was done only by Shakuni,” Shivpal said.

Where Mulayam stands

In an interview to a Hindi daily on 3 May, Mulayam blamed sycophancy and snobbery for the party’s defeat in the assembly elections and blamed Ramgopal for neither getting support from the right people nor fielding the right candidates.

Mulayam reportedly said that removing him from the post of party president had also proved costly for the party. “Had I not addressed a few meetings, the party would not have won even 47 seats,” he said.

He again criticised Akhilesh’s decision to align with the Congress and called it another factor responsible for the SP’s defeat.

Although he again said that Shivpal had been wronged, his confirmation of Shivpal’s claim that the new party had Netaji’s blessings is still awaited. 

Mulayam’s flip flop in the past delayed a formal split in the party. But this time, SP sources say Shivpal may have decided to press ahead and split the party even without Netaji’s support.