Akhilesh down, but may not be out

Possibilities of Akhilesh Yadav creating history by becoming the first chief minister to get a second consecutive term in nearly three decades in Uttar Pradesh sunk without a trace. Yet, unlike Mayawati, one cannot write the political obituary of Akhilesh with ground reports showing that the young leader enjoys widespread goodwill in his state.

However, Akhilesh, who had emerged the boss of his party after a bitter battle with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal, failed to encash this goodwill into votes, landing up with just 48 seats.

This was the party’s worst performance in 25 years of its existence. The SP had won 224 seats in 2012 when Akhilesh was made chief minister.

Sources in the SP said the two key factors which could have contributed to the rout were the tie-up with Congress and the bitter factional fight with his uncle Shivpal, who is seen to be a strong grassroots leader.

The family feud, clearly, took its toll on the party which suffered losses in its family strongholds of Etawah, Etah, Auraiyya and Ferozabad.

At least in 40 constituencies Shivpal had put up rival candidates on Lok Dal tickets. Party patriarch Mulayam Singh also did not campaign for the party, clearly indicating to the voters whom he was siding with.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister had fought the elections on the development plank and ran a media blitzkrieg showcasing his government’s achievements, which included promises of free laptops and smart phones. But the people seem to have decided it was too little too late. For the first three and a half years of his government, Akhilesh Yadav was seen to be under the control of his uncles for the first part of his term.

Apparently many of his voters could not accept the way he sidelined his father Mulayam and Shivpal and took over the reigns of the party.

Moreover, the new SP president’s decision to deny tickets to his father’s loyalists and forge an alliance with the Congress also disturbed the party cadres.

Shivpal Yadav, a master organiser and a grassroots leader of the party, said: “This is a defeat of arrogance not of the Samajwadi Party. Netaji (Mulayam Singh) was removed from the party president’s post and humiliated and insulted. Other senior leaders suffered a similar fate and forced to leave the party”.

The “Kaam bolta hai” slogan seemed to have boomeranged just like BJP’s “India Shining” had done in 2004.

Akhilesh, who handed over his resignation after the humiliating defeat, said that the BJP had won by “misleading” the voters and sided with BSP chief Mayawati who raised questions over EVMs.