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With the Samajwadi Party facing a rebellion from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over ticket distribution, its supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has called a meeting of all the candidates allotted tickets amid hectic efforts to stave off a possible split in the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh.
The crisis reached a flash point late Thursday night after Akhilesh “circulated” his own list of 235 candidates for the assembly elections, the schedule for which is likely to be announced any day now.
Shivpal Yadav, the warring uncle of Akhilesh, drove to the residence of his brother and SP chief Mulayam Yadav.
The two were closeted for nearly an hour, but it was not immediately known what transpired at the meeting as Shivpal did not answer questions of reporters waiting outside Mulayam’s residence.
Mulayam has convened a meeting on Saturday of the 393 candidates who have been allotted tickets by him.
Party insiders said the meeting was very crucial as the SP chief was likely gauge the sentiments of the candidates and conduct a fresh review of the list amid fears that the battle for control in SP left the party cadres divided and highly confused at grassroots level.
The meeting will be held against the backdrop of the open rebellion by Akhilesh, who “circulated” his own list of candidates for 235 seats against the official nominees announced by Mulayam.
The list, which did not carry any signature, was made available on social media by defiant party MLAs who failed to get a ticket in the official list.
As the SP grappled with the unprecedented crisis, senior leader and UP minister Azam Khan voiced deep distress over the developments and said, “Bad blood between relatives has damaged the future of the state.”
He said the feud in SP was being “celebrated” by its political rivals, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mulayam’s cousin and SP General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said many in the party do not want to see Akhilesh as chief minister again. “But, the fact remains that people of the state want him back as CM,” he claimed.
He said Mulayam had convened a meeting on January 1 to take a final call on ticket distribution, “but due to pressure (from Shivpal), he announced the list on December 28”.
Ramgopal, however, said there was no question of going back on the list prepared by Akhilesh.
Party observers said that in such a scenario, Mulayam’s efforts to make some of the declared candidates see reason and give up their tickets in favour of his son’s choice of nominees might come a cropper.
They said since names of 170 to 180 candidates figured in both the lists, it would be interesting to watch if they attended the meeting convened by Mulayam or opted out.
So far, official candidates have been declared for 393 of the 403 seats.
Akhilesh, who was present at an official function on Friday morning, did not take questions from media persons.
Though Akhilesh loyalists were enthusiastic to fight the elections “in the name of and as the face of the CM”, it was still not clear as to whether they would fight as Independents or float a new party.
Prominent among those figuring in the list of Akhilesh are his hardcore loyalists -- ministers Arvind Singh Gope, Pawan Pandey and Ram Govind Chaudhary, who were denied ticket by Mulayam.
Akhilesh has been unhappy over the declaration of candidates by Mulayam which included certain names to whose nomination the chief minister had strong reservation.
Mulayam, along with his brother and state party unit chief Shivpal, had announced the names at a hurriedly-convened press conference on Wednesday when Akhilesh was away on a tour of Bundelkhand.
Possibilities of a rapprochement dimmed when Shivpal announced the second list of 68 candidates late Thursday night, thereby blocking the scope for minor adjustments to avoid perhaps a showdown between father-son duo before the polls.