Mulayam will back Amar for RS
In a bid to buy insurance for the political career of his son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and ward off his detractors, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is set to support former party leader Amar Singh’s re- election for the Rajya Sabha next month. The politically astute SP chief is aiming to clip the wings of both his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav and senior leader Azam Khan by keeping alive their fear that Mr Singh could one day be back in the party.
Mr Singh’s Rajya Sabha
Move to check Azam Khan and Ram Gopal Yadav
term is ending next month. “Mr Ram Gopal Yadav is the de- facto party incharge of western UP. After the rout of the SP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mr Akhilesh Yadav’s political clout had taken a severe beating. The SP chief does not want to take any chances in the light of the growing influence of his cousin,” sources close to the SP chief said.
Incidentally, Mr Ram Gopal Yadav was credited to have nudged the SP chief to expel Mr Singh before the UP Assembly elections in 2012. Mr Yadav has decided to back Mr Singh’s Rajya Sabha bid as an RLD nominee, sources said.
Moreover, Mr Akhilesh Yadav’s aversion to senior party leader Azam Khan is a widely- known fact. “Mr Khan sought to emerge as an undisputed Muslim leader in the runup to the Lok Sabha elections and caused excessive polarisation, which backfired on the party, with its tradi- tional support base in the OBC castes shifting to the BJP. The party now wants to put the political Azam Khan genie back in the bottle and it can be easily done by propping up Amar Singh,” sources said.
With the Samajwadi Party chief besieged with reported illness and old age, sources said, he is taking all steps to ensure that there is no challenge to the leadership of his son from any quarter. “In the bypolls for 11 Assembly constituencies, the SP chief has gone by the wishes of his son and did not entertain the suggestions of either Mr Khan or Mr Ram Gopal Yadav,” sources said.