The Akhilesh Yadav camp is in a tizzy. The Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister finds himself in a quagmire fashioned by
his father the redoubtable Mulayam Singh Yadav, who
took complete control of the Samajwadi Party when he announced
the names of 325 candidates, none of which are Akhilesh
supporters. This is essentially a fight for control of the
party post 2017 polls and it seems the father is bent on stamping
his authority on the party. The future of Mulayam and Akhilesh
depends not on their machinations, but on whether they
can win at the polls. The infighting in the party is bound to
affect its performance in the forthcoming polls, unless Akhilesh
surrenders to the diktat of his father. This family feud has
reduced the chance of a poll tie-up between the SP and Congress,
which is now waiting for the chief minister to make his
move. The BJP, which won 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in
the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, could not have asked for a better
deal. A combined anti-BJP front would have been a formidable
adversary. Now, all that seems to have gone up in smoke leaving
the BJP with a clearer path to Lucknow.
