Time running out for Akhilesh; Mulayam trying to make balance between son and brother

New Delhi, Nov 1: President of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) Shivpal Singh Yadav plans to organise national convention of his party on December 9, 2018 which will be a kind of show of strength for him. He is likely to be formally elected president of the newly formed organisation. His elder brother and the tallest Samajwadi leader in the state Mulayam Singh Yadav also visited him twice in the recent past but for Mulayam Singh is keeping balance between his son Akhilesh Yadav and brother. But it is getting difficult and being termed a politically suicidal.

For Mulayam Singh, it is not as easy as it appears to chose a side. Dilemma for him is that the entire organisation of the party that he started is with his younger brother but he also does not not want to disown the original party the SP whose reigns in the hands of his son Akhilesh Yadav. Political analyst say that he might be trying his last ditch attempt to unite both the faction which seems unlikely at least for the moment.

Mulayam Singh visited Shivpal on his newly allotted bungalow where he was welcomed by the workers of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia). Shivpal even offered him to contest Lok Sabha election from Mainpuri and lead the party as president. After this Mulayam visited headquarters of the SP and addressed the workers at Lohia auditorium. But the issue is his son is completely isolated in the UP politics with neither any prospective alliance partners giving him any importance as they feel that he is nothing without Mulayam Singh and organisation of the party already shifted to his uncle's party.

In a situation where Lok Sabha elections are getting closure and a rival like Bharatiya Janata Party-led by Amit Shah is a robust opponent, it won't be an easy task for Akhilesh to do well. The fact that cannot be ignored is that if the present situation prevails, Akhilesh Yadav would not be able to garner even votes of his own community forget about Muslims and other communities. There is complete confusion if the SP is working with the BSP, the Congress or Rashtriya Lok Dal. If the BSP decides to go with Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) then there would nothing be left for him even if he joins hands with the Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh.

Political analyst say that Akhilesh neither has any charisma nor any political connect the way his father has. He has even failed to take forward the legacy of the Samajwadi Party. In a situation where there are multiple players including small players, the stand taken by him may rather harm his party than benefits. Some other analyst say that young leaders like Akhilesh, Rahul and Jayant Choudhary along with Mayawati might do magic in the state but influence of Jayant's party is confined to two-three district while even Brahmins are yet to rely on Rahul Gandhi who are not happy with the BJP. So this seems to be the reason that Mulayam Singh is not taking anyone's side. It tells that he is still hopeful of unity moreover he is not convince with the decision of Akhilesh joining the Congress.