Will the Sefai Mahotsav provide the opportunity to Amar Singh and Mulayam to sink their differences?

Mulayam, who has been organising a week-long festival in his own village Sefai in Itawah district every year, has invited Amar Singh to attend the function.

It may be mentioned that it is because of Amar Singh that Bollywood stars, including the Bachchan family, have been attending the Sefai festival.

Although Mulayam Singh Yadav has repeatedly announced that he would not accept the resignation of Amar Singh from party posts, the party is divided into two camps. The detractors of Amar Singh are openly demanding that the Thakur leader should quit the party at the earliest.

On the other hand, Amar Singh's followers are also announcing their resignation from party posts. The resignation, last week, of three general secretaries indicates the deepening crisis afflicting the party. Close lieutenant of Amar Singh and MLA in UP Assembly, Sandeep Garg has announced that over two dozen SP MLAs are with Amar Singh, adding that he has the support of a dozen MPs as well.

However, Shivpal Yadav, younger brother of Mulayam and leader of Opposition in the UP Assembly, has denied any rift among the party MLAs.

According to AICC general secretary and incharge of UP affairs, Mr Digvijay Singh, the Samajwadid Party is divided into two camps - the Bollywood camp and the Yadav camp. Members of the Bollywood camp have come out with their support for Amar Singh, who was instrumental in bringing them to the party fold.

For instance, Sanjay Dutt, who was made national general secretary of the party and offered the Lok Sabha ticket from Lucknow, has resigned his post. He has gone to the extent of slaying that he could even join the Congress along with Amar Singh. Similarly, Obaidullah Azmi has also quit his party post. SP's MP from Rampur, and Bollywood star, Jaya Pradha, is also on record that she would stand by Amar Singh in his hour of crisis. Though the other woman MP, Jaya Bachchan has not said anything so far, it is assumed that she too would go with Amar Singh. Prominent Bhojpuri singer Manoj Tewari, who was the SP candidate from Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha polls, has also signalled his intent to join hands with Amar Singh.

On the other hand, senior Samajwadi Party leaders like Ram Gopal Yadav and Mohan Singh have turned vocal against Amar Singh; they have said that the party's rank and file want Amar to leave the party.

Significantly, Ram Gopal Yadav, who is also national general secretary of the party and enjoyed power in decision-making process till Amar Singh became the virtual number two, has blamed Amar Singh for the decision to join hands with Kalyan Singh.

The Samajwadi Party was formed in 1992 and Amar Singh made his entry into the party in 1995 when he brought Amitabh Bachchan to Sefai. Gradually, Amar Singh became an important decision maker in the party and brought money power through his connections in the corporate world and star power through Bollywood.

With the growing influence of Amar Singh, the Samajwadi Party lost its socialist flavour and alienated itself from the common man. The SP became the voice of the corporate world and Mulayam became the spokesman of the Ambani group in the Lok Sabha.

Mulayam started relying more on Bollywood stars for election campaigns than his own party leaders who had been sidelined.

Several old loyalists who had stood by Mulayam for decades, were forced to quit the party owing to Amar Singh. Beni Prasad Verma, who commanded tremendous influence among the backward Kurmis and was number two in the party, was forced to quit the party. Similarly, Mohd Azam Khan, who was the Muslim face of the party, also blamed Amar Singh for his ouster from the party. Other Muslim leaders like Salim Sherwani and Shafiqur Rehman Warq also left the party. Bollywood star and now Congress MP, Raj Babbar who was the party MP twice from Agra and once in the Rajya Sabha, was compelled to quit the party, again, because of the Amar Singh factor.

It was Babbar's victory over Mulayam's daughter-in-law, Dimple in the Firozabad by-election that became the immediate cause of rift between Amar Singh and Ram Gopal Yadav.

Reacting to the defeat of Dimple, Amar Singh had said that the party lost because of the over confidence of Mulayam. Ram Gopal Yadav retorted saying that there was nothing wrong in being confident and Mulayam was a street fighter who never lost confidence. Thus started the open war between Amar Singh and Ram Gopal.

An aggrieved Amar Singh openly alleged that his views were not being given importance and all major decisions were being taken by the members of Mulayam family. Mulayam was party's national president while cousin Ram Gopal was general secretary; younger brother Shivpal was leader of opposition in the UP Assembly and son Akhilesh, state president; besides, nephew Dharmendra, MP also enjoyed a powerful position.

Samajawadi Party lost its Muslim support because the party joined hands with Kalyan Singh. This led to the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections as well as the recent by-elections to the UP Assembly in which the party could not win even a single seat.

According to political pundits, the Samajwadi Party may lose its hold over the powerful Thakur-Rajput community as Amar Singh was instrumental in bringing several Thakur leaders to the party fold. He was also instrumental in ensuring tickets for members of the Rajput community in the elections, and party positions in UP.

They say even if there is a patch-up between Mulayam and Amar, it would only be a fragile truce, and not a unity of hearts. (IPA)