‘Ticket hum nahin, Mukhya Mantri de rahe hain’

His interactions were brief, suggesting hishelplessnessattheturnofevents,thefact that he no longer had any “authority” left in the party. When some of the workers shouted “Shivpal Singh Yadav zindabad, Aditya bhaiyya (Shivpal’s son) zindabad”, Shivpal hushed them: “I will forward your applications to Netaji (Mulayam Singh) and the Chief Minister... Jisko bhi party ticket de, usko chunav ladana... aur jeetana (willbeour job).”herefusedtospeaktoreporters,telling them he would do so in a day or two.

To all in Lucknow, it was clear that Shivpal was out in the cold at the end of the bitter family tussle for control of the party. Elated over the award of the party symbol, Akhilesh was making up with Netaji and there was talk that father and son were working on the distribution of poll tickets — Akhileshsaid90percentofthenamesinthe lists they had drawn earlier were common.

Shivpal was no longer in the picture. His residence, where tight security would restrict entry, was an open house Tuesday — people walked in and out without being asked questions. Anyone who wanted to meetshivpalcouldsimplywalktothelawns where he waited. No party leader was visible — all these months, he was always surrounded by senior ministers, bureaucrats, businessmen and organisation leaders.

Loyalists like MLAS Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima, who were sackedfromthecabinetbyakhilesh,always used to be with Shivpal. Not one was with him today.