After back-to-back failures, can Akhilesh Yadav find his lost mojo?

Akhilesh, once hailed as a rising star on the Indian political landscape after the SP dislodged the BSP government in the 2012 UP polls, is today desperately in search of his lost mojo

On June 3, when Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav was on a thanksgiving visit to Azamgarh after winning the Lok Sabha polls from the constituency, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Supremo Mayawati — faraway, in New Delhi — hinted that the grand alliance between the two arch-rivals was over.

Mayawati, who is acknowledged as a shrewd negotiator in electoral politics, blamed her mahagathbandhan partner SP for the poll debacle in UP, alleging the socialist outfit had failed to transfer its traditional vote bank to the BSP. Chairing a meeting of senior party functionaries in the national capital, she noted Akhilesh could not even ensure the victory of his wife, Dimple, from Kannauj.

Akhilesh, who was waxing eloquent on the SP-BSP alliance at a public meeting in Azamgarh, was at a loss of words when newspersons questioned him about Mayawati’s hint of dumping the SP and fielding BSP candidates on all 11 seats in the upcoming by-polls in the state.

But, it is the BSP that gained from the alliance and increased its tally from zero in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to 10, while the SP could just win five seats and equalled its 2014 tally, even as Dimple and two of Akhilesh’s cousins — Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav — lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Badaun and Firozabad constituencies, respectively.

The two parties had forged an alliance to defeat the BJP by arithmetically combining their respective vote banks, comprising the Dalits and the OBCs (the two sections constitute 22 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively, of the state’s poulation). However, the concoction of ‘chemistry’ by the BJP trumped their caste ‘arithmetic’ and the national party, along with its ally Apna Dal (S), won 64 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP.

Under the alliance, the BSP and the SP had fought 38 and 37 seats, respectively, while leaving three seats for their ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and two for the Congress. The RLD drew a blank and the Congress won a single seat in Raebareli (Sonia Gandhi).

Akhilesh, once hailed as a rising star on the Indian political landscape after the SP dislodged the Mayawati-led BSP government in the 2012 UP polls, is today desperately in search of his lost mojo. 

This is not the first time that Akhilesh displayed political immaturity by allying with rival parties on election eve and getting a raw deal. Before the 2017 UP election, the SP had forged an alliance with the Congress and gave it nearly 100 of the total 403 seats to contest, although patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had voiced opposition to the alliance. The experiment failed — the SP and the Congress could merely win 47 seats and 7 seats, respectively, while the BJP swept the polls by winning, along with allies, 325 seats. The BSP, which had contested independently, secured just 19 seats.

After he took over the SP’s reins from his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, senior party leaders have either left the party or been sidelined, including Mulayam himself, while a new crop of leaders owing allegiance to Akhilesh has taken charge. But, most of these young leaders have little ground connect, leaving the cadres disenchanted and demoralised.

The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia, floated by Akhilesh’s estranged uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, has provided shelter to hordes of veteran SP leaders sidelined under the new SP order. 

Cosying up to the BSP also riled long-time SP ally Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, who distanced himself from Akhilesh and floated his own political party. Raja Bhaiyya and his father were put behind bars during the Mayawati regime, although the court had later exonerated him of the charges.

“Akhilesh today is perceived as politically naïve as far as forging  alliances are concerned. Such alliances have only harmed the SP, while providing timely lifelines to its alliance partners,” political commentator Hemant Tiwari observed.

“The sidelining of Mulayam and Shivpal under Akhilesh has not gone down well with the people. Unless he reaches out to senior party leaders, including those who have switched sides owing to neglect, the revival of the SP looks a distant dream, especially against an aggressive BJP and the Modi-Shah duo,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the SP has also announced to contest the UP by-polls on 11 seats independently, which again provides an opportunity to Akhilesh to prove his leadership and political foresight by galvanising the party rank and file, and rediscover the winning ways.