As Speculations Fly Around Arrangement Between BJP And Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh Seems Uninterested To Mend Fences With His Uncle

Amid reports of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSP-L) president Shivpal Yadav’s ongoing strife with his nephew Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, and his growing proximity with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), speculations are rife that the BJP can nominate Shivpal Yadav as the Deputy Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

Not just this, all sorts of possibilities surrounding Shivpal Yadav and the BJP are doing the rounds in Uttar Pradesh, including BJP membership for Shivpal, a Rajya Sabha nomination or the party fielding him on a BJP ticket in the Azamgarh bye-elections.

While neither Shivpal Yadav nor the BJP has openly said anything substantial, none has entirely ruled out the possibility of something like this happening in the coming days. Interestingly, if Yadav is actually made the Deputy Speaker, then 'Uncle Shivpal' would be sitting right next to his nephew and leader of opposition Akhilesh Yadav in the UP assembly.

Many experts believe that this move of the BJP is highly probable as it has previously done the same thing when it made then SP MLA Nitin Agarwal the Deputy Speaker of the UP Legislative Assembly in October 2021. Agarwal was an SP MLA even as his father, Naresh Agarwal had switched to the BJP. Nitin Agrawal is currently the Excise Minister in the ‘Yogi Government-2.0’.

Interestingly, if the PSP-L chief agrees for such an arrangement, the SP won’t be able to undo this development as the BJP has the required number of assembly seats to ensure the same.

Who Has He Said What Until Now?

Recently, on 7 April, a reportedly infuriated Akhilesh Yadav, who was in Kannauj with regards to the preparations of the legislative council elections, when asked about the reason of Shivpal Yadav’s displeasure with the SP, said that “it is not the time to answer questions related to the family”.

A few senior leaders from the BJP and the PSP-L have also given statements on the possibilities of Shivpal Yadav joining hands with the BJP.

Minister of State for AYUSH, Food Safety and Drug Administration (Independent Charge) in the ‘Yogi Government 2.0’, Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’, when questioned about Shivpal Yadav joining the BJP camp, said “Those who are becoming ‘homeless’, and see their family in the BJP, their decision is welcome. The BJP welcomes those who want to be a part of the nationalist mainstream.”

As per this report, former national general secretary of the PSP-L Raghuraj Shakya, currently a BJP member, but who is known to be a close aide of Shivpal Yadav, said Shivpal Yadav joining the BJP or not is a “big matter”, adding that “only the party high command will take a decision on this as talks have taken place between both the sides”.

Earlier, former deputy CM Keshav Prasad, when asked about Shivpal Yadav’s “courtesy meeting” with CM Adityanath and the rising speculations regarding his supposed entry into the BJP, has said “As of now, we do not have any such vacancy here. Recently, Akhilesh Yadav also met the CM in the House, many other people also met him. Anyone can meet the CM. He is the CM of 24 crore people of the state.”

The speculations surrounding Shivpal Yadav entering into some kind of arrangement with the BJP gained momentum following his 20-minute long meeting with CM Adityanath, which was reportedly preceded by his meeting with a few top BJP leaders. After the meeting, Shivpal Yadav, when asked if he was contemplating any major decisions in the coming days, said that “Very soon, I will talk about everything and tell everything.”

When Akhilesh Yadav fielded Shivpal Yadav in the UP 2022 assembly elections on a SP ticket from Jaswant Nagar, it appeared that all was well in the Yadav family as the uncle-nephew duo seemed to have mended fences. However, after the elections, Akhilesh Yadav didn’t invite Shivpal Yadav in a meeting of SP MLAs convened by him in March end, saying that since Shivpal Yadav was an alliance member, he would be invited in the meeting of the alliance partners.

Later, when a meeting of the alliance partners was convened, Shivpal Yadav claimed that he was informed late, and thus had to skip the meeting. As per this report, when the SP chief was informed about Shivpal Yadav’s “courtesy meet” with the CM Adityanath, Akhilesh is said to have replied “he had to go there only”.

The widening of this rift between the uncle-nephew duo can be traced back to 2012 when Akhilesh Yadav was announced as the UP chief minister by then SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. It is said that as Shivpal himself was a contender for the chief ministerial position, he didn’t even want to attend the party meeting in which Akhilesh Yadav was chosen as the UP CM. However, Shivpal had to bow down to the pressure put on him by his elder brother and he himself had to propose Akhilesh’s name as the party’s CM face.

It is since then that despite all efforts by many party leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh and Shivpal have not been able to come to terms with each other. It is believed in political circles in Uttar Pradesh that during Akhilesh’s tenure, Shivpal left no stone unturned to usurp the CM seat from his nephew.

When Akhilesh Yadav, who was then a sitting CM, was expelled from the SP along with his other uncle Ramgopal Yadav by then SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav in December 2016, it was reported that it was Shivpal Singh Yadav who had organised the press conference and persuaded his elder brother to announce the expulsion of Akhilesh Yadav. However, Mulayam had to revoke the expulsion after a massive show of strength by Akhilesh Yadav, where over 200 of the 229 party MLAs lent their support to Akhilesh.

Later, as the reconciliation seemed improbable, Shivpal, in 2019, left the SP to create his own political party, namely the PSP-L. In the recently concluded UP 2022 assembly elections, the uncle-nephew had once again come together. However, none of the leaders endorsed by the PSP-L chief were given tickets by Akhilesh Yadav.

It must be noted that while there were clear indications that the PSP-L chief was willing to merge his party with the parent SP, the SP chief was not ready to allow it.

The results of the 2019 parliamentary elections and the 2022 assembly election have undoubtedly established the view that the core voter base of the SP, that is the Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) vote bank, has accepted Akhilesh Yadav as their leader, and that he doesn’t need Shivpal Yadav’s help to the consolidate this voter base.

Also, as Akhilesh Yadav has now gained control over the SP, he certainly does not want to give way to his uncle who can emerge as an alternate power centre in the party. Thus, many experts are of the view that Akhilesh sees more disadvantages than advantages in trying to assuage his estranged uncle.

While a few temporary truces have been reached between the uncle-nephew duo, both the Samajwadi leaders have been publicly undercutting each other since 2016, and the rift has only widened after the recently concluded assembly elections.

The BJP appears to be contemplating ways to take advantage of this feud by incorporating an estranged Shivpal Yadav into the BJP faction.