Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi may have been looking for virtues in their new-found friendship and political alliance, but it now looks like the move might have given a fresh lease of life and a new rallying point to Mulayam Singh Yadav and brother Shivpal Singh Yadav. The union seems to have sparked a wave of support for the patriarch among the party leaders and workers who were denied tickets in the 105 constituencies that Samajwadi Party (SP) had yielded to Congress as part of their alliance.
Akhilesh might have established a strong standing for himself after he won the sign, seal and symbol of SP and snatched the party’s presidency from his father Mulayam, but worrying signals are emerging for him on the horizon. He may have trounced his family elders in a battle of wits and muscle power – to attain absolute control of the party – but in the last 24 hours, Mulayam and uncle Shivpal have indicated to Akhilesh that he should not count them as out of the race just yet.
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