LUCKNOW: Southwest Uttar Pradesh has a small place where people, unlike those in other parts of the state, have a different take on two key characters of the ruling Yadav family.
At Saifai in Etawah district, the ‘chacha-bhatija’ relation between the new state president of Samajwadi Party and the chief minister does the rounds with affection-brimming anecdotes. The ties between Shivpal Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav would almost sound fabled.
The general refrain of the villagers goes thus: “Shivpal ne Akhilesh ko paala hai, Netaji ke paas rajneeti ke alawa kisi cheez ke liye waqt nahin tha (Shivpal brought up Akhilesh, Mulayam never had time for anything other than politics).”
It was Shivpal who was Akhilesh’s local guardian in Saifai. He sent Akhilesh to school and fetched him back. Akhliesh’s fondness for Shivpal was“natural ”. It was so even when Akhilesh stepped into politics in 2000 and won Kannauj Lok Sabha bypolls.
Almost a decade later, their relation started souring. That was in 2009, when Shivpal was the party’ s state president. Mulayam was unhappy with the SP’s show in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
{{/usCountry}}Almost a decade later, their relation started souring. That was in 2009, when Shivpal was the party’ s state president. Mulayam was unhappy with the SP’s show in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
{{/usCountry}}Mulayam removed Shivpal from the state presidentship and installed Akhilesh as state SP chief.
Akhilesh, who had consolidated the party’s youth cadre in his long tenure as the national president of all the youth wings of the party, went on an intense campaign through bicycle yatras and‘ Kranti rath’. The party, for the first time, came to power with a full majority in the 2012 assembly polls. The Shivpal-Akhilesh relation further strained. Mulayam, influenced by party national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav, had propped up Akhilesh to the CM chair, while uncle Shivpal overtly wanted Mulayam to be CM and covertly wanted the position for himself.