Shivpal eyes shot at redemption, may line up fight in SP strongholds

ETAWAH/MAINPURI/KANNAUJ/AZAMGARH: Shivpal Yadav, 63, was often called Uttar Pradesh’s de facto chief minister when his brother and Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was in power from 2003 to 2007. He has since fallen out of favour with SP chief and his nephew, Akhilesh Yadav, and forced to quit the party he helped Mulayam nurture. Shivpal has launched the Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM) to “reclaim his honour”.

Sushant Kumar, who is likely to be the SSM’s candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Yadavs pocket borough of Etawah, warned against taking Shivpal lightly. “Shivpal ji is not Amar Singh. Amar Singh was not into electoral politics,’’ he said, referring to former SP leader Amar Singh, who quit the party to float the Lok Manch to contest the 2012 assembly polls but failed to win any seat. “Shivpal ji has been a grassroots level politician. He is a force to reckon with in this region for years.”

Shivpal plans to field candidates in Agra, Etawah, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Farrukhabad, Etah, Badayun, Kannauj and Aurraiya, which are part of the Yadav belt because of his family’s influence. The Morcha has said it would also field a winnable candidate from Kannauj from where Akhilesh is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kannauj unit president Narendra Rajput said the SP split in Kannauj would benefit his party.

Shivpal is likely to contest from Firozabad or Farukkhabad. Raghuraj Shakya, one-time Parliament and two-time state assembly member, is likely to contest from Kanpur or Kanpur Dehat seat. Many like Shakya and Sukhdevi Verma, 66, a fourtime SP MLA, have left the SP to join Shivpal. “Thousands of people who quit SP... are now joining Shivpal ji. Many SP leaders will join Shivpal ji in future after being denied tickets by their party,” said Sukhdevi Verma.

A ‘sleeper SP cadre’ organisation, Shri Krishna Vahini (SKV), has also been activated to further Shivpal’s political ambitions. Ribu Srivastava, an SP leader from Varanasi who enjoyed the rank of minister of state in the Akhilesh Yadav government, recently joined Shivpal with her supporters.

“A number of SP workers are in touch with me and will join the Morcha as it is expanding,” said Srivastava. Mulayam, who had been with Shivpal during the Yadav family feud, has been backing his son, Akhilesh, ever since his brother announced his Morcha. But last week, he sent the Akhilesh camp in a tizzy by showing up at a Morcha event. Mulayam’s younger daughterin-law, Aparna Yadav, who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly polls, is seen as a Shivpal supporter.

She shared the dais with him last fortnight. In the past, whosoever has defected from the SP to form a separate political outfit has failed. Beni Prasad Verma floated the Samajwadi Kranti Dal ahead of the 2007 Uttar Pradesh elections, but could not even win a single seat.

Amar Singh’s Lok Manch, which was floated ahead of 2012 assembly elections, lost deposits on all the seats. Akhilesh came to power with a majority and both Beni and Amar returned to the SP. While Beni stays on, Amar is out again. Former Lucknow University political science department head S K Dwivedi said Shivpal may not be in a position to become a political force against Akhilesh.

But he added Shivpal is in a position to inflict substantial damage, which in turn will benefit the BJP.

“He has many supporters in SP. He can damage the party and its vote bank a bit. The BJP seems to be the only gainer in all that is going on.”

Many say the Yadavs have accepted Akhilesh as the natural successor of Mulayam. “We support the SP and its chief ,Akhilesh Yadav. We cannot think of supporting any other party... the (Morcha) has been floated to negatively impact the SP. But Yadavs understand it well,” said Ramjanm Yadav, a farmer. He insisted the Morcha would not impact the SP’s prospects.