It is not clear why Mulayam made his son Akhilesh the chief minister four and a half years ago when he sought votes in his name and won. There have been other backseat drivers, including the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the Shiv Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray, who managed the affairs well. All along he has to do a fine balancing act to smoothen feathers within the family and also within the party.

When Akhilesh became UP's youngest chief minister, there was a talk that there were 'four-and-a-half CMs' in the state – the four being his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, uncles Ram Gopal and Shivpal and Mulayam's closest aide Azam Khan. Akhilesh was the half. Since the day he had taken over, there have been tussles for the “half” chief minister with the other four “chief ministers” on some issue or the other. Almost nearing the end of his term, Akhilesh has not been able to assert himself. Mulayam Singh has not made it clear about the party’s hierarchy, which is creating the erosion of the chief minister’s authority.

Mulayam has much to worry as the party is bidding for power again. Things are not looking good for the ruling party as there is disenchantment with the SP rule. The workers are confused about this constant bickering within the first family. The BSP is picking up fast and Mayawati is trying to woo the Muslims to make a Dalit-Muslim combination. If she succeeds, it would be a big blow to the ruling party. The SP had always depended on its “Muslim plus Yadav” core votes. The BJP too is making all out efforts to do well enthused by the victory in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when the party got 71 of the 80 seats.

The present face-off in the party between Akhilesh and Mulayam Singh’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav projects the real state of affairs in the party. While the family feuds were kept under wraps, it came out in the open last week when Shivpal Singh threatened to resign while speaking from a public platform. The next day Mulayam jumped into his defence, chiding the chief minister. At a flag-hoisting programme on Independence Day, Mulayam alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched against the Shivpal Singh. “Shivpal is working very hard. A few people are against him. If he quits, then the situation for the party will become bad. Half of the people will go with him,” the SP supremo said. He also cautioned his son about sycophants. So the cat is out of the bag. Mulayam’s cousin Ram Gopal Yadav also feels marginalised.

The present quarrel came over the party’s merger move announced by Shivpal Yadav on June 21 with the mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal. When Akhilesh was away from the state capital. The chief minister wanted SP to keep a distance form Mukhtar, who is in jail facing serious criminal cases. The chief minister had taken a similar tough stand on the inclusion of mafia-turned-politician DP Yadav before the 2012 Assembly elections. QED has its area of influence in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh. The SP parliamentary board abruptly called off the merger on June 25 with Mulayam giving in to pressure from his son. This left the uncle sulking. Akhilesh also sacked the minister who was said to have facilitated the merger but took him back after the move was given up. What happened within these two months is not known but now the SP is all set to embrace the QED with Mulayam Singh’s blessings.

The political differences within the family had been simmering from day one. A group wanted Mulayam to take over the reins when he anointed Akhilesh as chief minister. Shivpal Singh was aspiring to be chief minister and has been unable to reconcile to his secondary role.

Secondly, this was not the first time Mulayam faced problems about his political moves. Earlier, when Shivpal was wooing the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Ram Gopal Yadav publicly opposed it with the result the move was abandoned. Even on the Rajya Sabha ticket to Amar Singh both Ram Gopal Yadav and Azam Khan opposed it. Akhilesh too was not very enthusiastic.

Thirdly, the administration also has suffered in the bargain because quite often there was pressure on Akhilesh to appoint some officer or the other. The officers also knew that they have to get hold of one or the other family members to get their postings done. Some went directly to Mulayam Singh Yadav for his patronage.

In such a situation, it is imperative for Mulayam to show that the party is united and all is well. But how can he do so when things are not well? This is his dilemma. Time and age are not on his side and therefore the SP chief is desperate. The problem is that he needs the support of all his family members, his party leaders and all the SP workers at the time of elections as there is a big battle to win. Will he be able to do it? (IPA Service)