Signs of discord re-emerge within Samajwadi Party

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party, over the past 24 hours, has unfolded a new chapter in its history of drama and infighting, diluting all efforts over the past few months to create a picture of unity. Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, at the birthday function of his colleague Bhagwati Singh, said: “No one respects me now. Maybe they will honour me after I am no more. Aaj hamara koi samman nahin karta. Lohia used to say that in this country, people honour you only after you are gone”.

He recalled how senior leaders like Bhagwati Singh had helped him push forward the idea of socialism and strengthen the party. “The young leaders of today should take lessons in simplicity from their seniors and take the party forward with values that are the core of our party”, he said.

Mr Yadav was obviously referring to his son Akhilesh Yadav, who now heads the Samajwadi Party. The senior Yadav has been completely sidelined within the party and his role as a patriarch is also non-existent.

Hours after Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed his feelings, his younger brother Shivpal Yadav also echoed similar sentiments, and said: “I have been waiting for the past year and a half to get a respectable position in the party and I can only say that I am still waiting”.

While Mr Shivpal Yadav refused to elaborate further, his statement comes in the wake of reports that he is preparing to float his own outfit because he sees no future for himself in the Samajwadi Party led by Mr Akhilesh Yadav.

Former Samajwadi leader and MP Amar Singh, meanwhile, released a video message in which he termed Akhilesh Yadav as “president of the Namazwadi Party” and attacked him for having declared that he would build a Vishnu temple.

In a blistering attack on the SP president, Mr Singh said he should recall how many times he had helped his family members but no one from his family had come to meet him when he faced troubled times. Mr Singh also mounted a vitriolic attack on SP leader Azam Khan, whom he called a “rakshas” (demon). Mr Singh vowed to spread his video message to the rural interiors of the nation and fight back against this tirade against him. He said that in this battle, he was ready to accept the label of being “communal”.

These developments in the Samajwadi Party have, meanwhile, shocked those leaders who had begun to feel the infighting in the Yadav clan was over. “We really don’t know what to make of these developments, but it is a fact that party cadres will raise questions and our attention will again get diverted to in-house problems”, said a veteran SP leader.