'Large-hearted' Akhilesh to accommodate people close to Mulayam Singh Yadav

LUCKNOW: A ‘big heart’ and attention to detail will be at the core of Akhilesh Yadav’s poll strategy. Fresh from the victory in SP’s bitter intra-party fight, the UP CM, his close advisors say, will not be vindictive or aggressive but intelligently accommodative towards the rival faction, beginning with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Akhilesh’s on-ground planning will look at lots of details. For example, he would try to see which of UP’s tiny parties can help SP, whether an alliance with Ajit Singh’s RLD will put off Muslims, or which seats in Rae Bareli and Amethi regions should go to the Congress. The SP and Congress have almost firmed up an alliance.

It seems peace in the family, finally, with Mulayam indicating to his son that he does not plan to challenge the EC decision, which was in his son’s favour, or field separate candidates. This was after Akhilesh visited his father on Monday night immediately after the EC verdict and is said to have told him: “Yeh aapki party hai, we are all here because of you” and added Mulayam will be the face of the campaign.


The CM is now expected to accommodate nearly three dozen people close to Mulayam in the final list. This will include Mulayam’s daughter-in-law Aparna from the Lucknow Cantonment seat. Shivpal Yadav, however, does not plan to contest or be part of the election campaign any more and his son Aditya could be given the ticket from Jaswantnagar in Etawah.

Also Read: All the latest news and updates related to Assembly polls 2017

“During the whole fight, Aparna backed the Shivpal faction. But the CM has told his close group that rajneeti mein jiska mann bada hoga, wohi aage badhega. Akhilesh will also not sack Shivpal… wo apna bhavishya khud hi tay karenge. Kal se koi bhi MLAunhe milne nahi gaya hai,” a senior party leader close to Akhilesh told ET.

However, Akhilesh will not agree on giving tickets to tainted persons like Atiq Ahmed and Amanmani Tripathi.

“The CM is against the goonda elements…bahut mushkil se image banti hai,” a leader close to Akhilesh said.

“Our ticket distribution will be without any dispute unlike what is happening in the BJP. Aap dekhiye Rajnath Singh ki kaise bezatti hui — his son’s name is not in first list,” a leader close to Akhilesh said. Congress and smaller parties are expected to be given under 100 seats.

Akhilesh is still considering if an alliance with RLD will be beneficial as that party’s Jat base could put off MuslimsinwesternUPasbothgroups are antagonistic to each another. “Once an alliance with Congress and some smaller parties is announced, JDUandNCPmayalsosupportit. This will be bigger than the Bihar Mahagathbandan,” an SP leader claimed.

From January 1-17, Akhilesh has had several meetings with advisers and party workers on the campaign strategy. “The whole campaign will be on development and development alone. We will propagate the SP pension scheme, laptop and smartphone schemes. Kaam bolta hai — this slogan will be our mantra to return to power,” another leader close to the CM said.

The Akhilesh camp has identified 15 star campaigners, including Dimple Yadav, Jaya Bachchan and Ram Gopal Yadav. Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar may also campaign. The UP CM could cover 6-7 Vidhan Sabha constituencies per day by chopper along with his wife Dimple and nearly a dozen choppers have been booked by SP for it.

The hitch that may emerge in an alliance with the Congress could be over the dozen seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli — SP holds 10 of them while the Congress would want all these tickets for themselves. The powerful SP minister, Gayatri Prajapati, is the MLA from Amethi.

“Akhilesh has declared only one candidate each from Rae Bareli and Amethi. The sitting MLAs of SP may be adjusted on MLC seats or as corporation chiefs. There can be an agreement with Congress that they have can have half of the 10 seats,” a SP leader said.

There might be an issue with the Congress over the Deoband seat too. SP will focus on winning the maximum out of 80-odd reserved constituencies.

“In 2012, SP won 70% of the reserved seats. We will again focus on them,” a leader said.

Mulayam is expected to campaign for Akhilesh and new posters have sprung up with a giant photo of Mulayam and a smaller picture of Akhilesh, saying: “Aapki cycle chalegi sada aapke naam pe.” A leader close to the CM said: “The CM has made it clear the party is of Mulayam and election will be fought in Netaji’s name.”

Another leader said: “Akhilesh is casteless and his face has become the symbol like Modi. SP has always been seen as a Yadav-Muslim party, but ab other castes jud jaayenge. CM ne gaon se shaher ki party bana di hai. We are looking to tap the urban middleclassvoterwhichwaswithBJP. Our manifesto would reflect that.”