Mulayam has already set the ball rolling by leading a statewide dharna on January 19 against the misrule and corruption of the Mayawati government. Incidentally, it was the first time since 1992 that Mulayam courted arrest and sat on a dharna in the state capital.

Political analysts feel that it was a major effort on the part of the combative SP chief to galvanise the party's rank and file whose morale is at its lowest ebb following a series of electoral defeats starting with the last Assembly elections and then in the Lok Sabha polls. Even in the recent by-elections, the party failed to improve its position. So bad is the situation that in the recently-held local bodies elections, the party managed to win only one seat out of a total of 36 seats as against the 24 it had won in 2004.

First and foremost, Mulayam has to undo the damage caused by Amar Singh who had been taking major decisions on policy matters for more than a decade.

To start with, Mulayam has to regain the trust and confidence of Muslims who were alienated by the SP's decision to join hands with Kalyan Singh whom Muslims hold responsible for the demolition of Babri masjid.

The erosion in Muslim support was responsible for the loss of many sets in the Lok Sabha elections. Leaders like Mohammed Azam Khan, who was known as the Muslim face of the SP, quit the Samajwadi Party because of Amar Singh's action in backing Bollywood actress Jaya Pradha in the Lok Sabha election from Rampur.

Now that Amar Singh has left, Azam is said to be ready to rejoin the SP provided Mulayam apologises to the Muslim community for joining hands with Kalyan Singh.

Mulayam has realised that it was only because of Amar Singh important Muslim leaders like Mohd Azam Khan, Salim Sherwani, Shafiqur Rehman Warq and Shahid Siddiqui had left the party.

Trusted lieutenants like Raj Babbar and Beni Prasad Verma, who won the latest Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket, also left the party owing to the Amar Singh factor.

Mulayam is said to be already in touch with prominent leaders; he has announced that the party would work to solve the problems being faced by the minority community. He went to extent to demanding that the Babri mosque should be rebuilt. Mulayam also visited Nadwa college in Lucknow to meet the chairman of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

But winning over the Muslims is not going to be an easy task as during the last assembly and Lok Sabha polls, the minority community had shifted its support to Congress and part of it to the BSP.

The perception has gained ground that after joining hands with Amar Singh, the Samajwadi Party had distanced itself from the socialists ideology of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and embraced corporate leaders.

When Mulayam Singh Yadav started his struggle for power, he formed the Krantikari Morcha with the help of Communist parties and other like-minded parties. The support of left parties helped Mulayam Singh Yadav to emerge as a national leader; at one time, he was being talked about as the Prime Ministerial candidate.

After Amar Singh joined the party, Mulayam lost the crucial support of the left parties. Having realised his mistake, Mulayam is now in touch with senior communist leaders in an effort to regain their confidence.

During the last one decade, Mulayam had alienated himself from senior party leaders, party workers and the masses. He had delegated the power to take decisions to Amar Singh. To make matters worse, he was also seen increasingly in the company of Bollywood stars and corporate leaders. Mulayam now has to rebuild his rapport with party leaders and ordinary workers and take up issues concerning the common man.

The SP chief also has to counter the influence of Amar Singh among the powerful Thakurs in the state. Amar Singh, who quit all important party posts, has launched a Kshatriya Yatra from Varanasi which would culminate in Mathura. The main aim of this yatra is to mobilise the support of the Kshatriyas and project himself as a Kshatriya leader.

In order to retain the support of the Thakurs, Mulayam will have to give important positions to senior leaders like Mohan Singh.

The biggest task before Mulayam is to broaden the social base of his party and bring smaller castes, especially the most backwards castes into the party fold.

It may be mentioned that Mulayam has been accused by Amar Singh of having given all important party positions to his family members. For instance, his son, Akhilesh is the president of the UP Samajwadi Party, younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav is the leader of the Opposition in UP Assembly. Cousin Ram Gopal is also an MP; so is nephew Dharmendra. Last but not the least, Mulayam also fielded his daughter-in-law Dimple as the SP candidate from Firozabad. She, however, lost to Raj Babbar of the Congress.

If Mulayam has to win over people belonging to other castes, he will have to remove the tag of SP being a mere Yadav party with the decision-making power remaining with key family members.

Wisdom has dawned on Mulayam that if he has to face the onslaughts of both the Congress and the ruling BSP, he will have to revitalize the party and enlarge SP's social base. A daunting task indeed. But the fighter that he is, Mulayam can be trusted to make a determined effort to realise the objective. (IPA)