Poll rout: Voices of dissent over Akhilesh's continuation as SP president

The SP virtually crashed from its tally of 224 in 2012 to 47 in 2017 polls

Last Updated : Mar 13 2017 | 2:07 AM IST

A day after the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) was voted out of power with the rampaging Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ‘Modi tsunami’ handing it over a crushing defeat, voices of dissent have already started emerging from within the socialist party over fixing of responsibility for the humiliating loss.

The SP virtually crashed from its tally of 224 in 2012 to 47 in 2017 polls. The party had put behind an acrimonious power struggle and deep fault lines over leadership issues in government and the ruling family just before the state poll, hoping to retain power.

In backdrop of bickering and fighting spilling out on the Lucknow streets flanking the SP headquarters and CM residence, SP patriarch and founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was removed from the post of party president and replaced by UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in a specially convened session on January 1, 2017.

In the fast turn of events, Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav was also sidelined along with close aides. Senior party leaders and ministers were also denied poll tickets, including Ambika Chaudhary, Narad Rai and Vijay Mishra. Some of them joined other parties to contest poll.

Talking to a news channel, SP legislator and Mulayam’s confidante Madhukar Jaitley today said Mulayam was the founder president of the party and that his honour be restored. He observed that in politics, one has to take the credit of win and also the responsibility of loss even as he did not take any names, yet his obvious reference was towards Akhilesh, who had spearheaded the poll campaign.

Another Mulayam’s confidante, who was sidetracked in the new power dynamics with Akhilesh at helm, Dr C P Rai has asked the outgoing CM and sitting SP president Akhilesh to honour his own words and restore ‘Netaji’ as the party president.

Before UP polling, Akhilesh had declared that he wanted to win the election and later hand over the reins of party to his father and displaced party president, Mulayam.

Yesterday, Shivpal, commenting on poll loss, had said it was not the loss of party, but of vanity and arrogance, purportedly hinting at Akhilesh, who had over the past few weeks run the party impunity and rather arbitrarily under the guidance of his cousin uncle Ram Gopal Yadav.

However, Akhilesh must have never anticipated he would be voted out of power and post such humiliating electoral defeat even after forging a pre-poll alliance with Congress to stop the Modi juggernaut from winning the UP crown. Even Mulayam and Shivpal had publically flayed the alliance with Congress, yet Akhilesh did not relent.

SP and Congress could win only 47 and 7 seats this time compared to their 2012 tally of 224 and 28 respectively. BJP, against its tally of 48 last time, won 325 seats of the total 403 assembly seats, which is their best poll performance ever in the state.

Meanwhile, things are likely to get uglier for SP after Holi and when a new BJP dispensation is sworn in.

Besides, it would be interesting to see as to who dons the mantle of the leader of the opposition in Vidhan Sabha, since Akhilesh is not a member of the legislative assembly yet, as he did not fight the poll and is currently a member of legislative council (Vidhan Parishad).