SP infighting brings campaign to a halt
The rift in the Yadav clan seems to be having a serious side effect on the Samajwadi Party. The party’s election campaign has ground to a halt even before it formally began.
If Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has cancelled his proposed rally in Azamgarh on October 6, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has also put off his “Vikas se Vijay Tak Yatra” that was scheduled to take off on October 3.
The second phase of the “Mulayam Sandesh Yatra”, that was to begin from September 25 from Delhi, has also been stalled.
According to party sources, the reason for these events being put off is the growing division within the Samajwadi Party and also indecision at the top level of the party.
The Azamgarh rally was apparently put off after youth leaders in the district came out openly against state president Shivpal Yadav and announced their support to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Some party workers were openly defiant of the SP chief ’ s decision
to appoint Amar Singh as party general secretary.
Akhilesh Yadav postponed his rath yatra after the expulsion of seven youth leaders — four of them heads of frontal organisations — from the party earlier in September.
“These youth leaders were the main organisers of the yatra and had made all the necessary planning. Their expulsion has thrown things off gear, and that is why the yatra has been put off,” a source said.
The “Mulayam Sandesh Yatra” was stalled for similar reasons since a number of youth leaders involved in it put in their papers to express solidarity with Akhilesh Yadav.