Swords and peace overtures in Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party’s silver jubilee function on Saturday was billed as a big socialist reunion that would set the stage for a prospective coalition in Uttar Pradesh. Instead, it became ground for CM Akhilesh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Yadav’s show of unity, though both also made their deep-set differences evident.

The second back-to-back display of unity, after a joint show at the start of Akhilesh Yadav’s rath yatra on Thursday, saw Akhilesh touching Shivpal’s feet and the latter blessing him; both,however, did not refrain in asserting their position in the party immediately afterwards.

Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, a relative of Mulayam Singh Yadav now (Lalu’s daughter Raj Laxmi is married to the UP patriarch’s grandnephew Tej Pratap), played peacemaker and even anointed Akhilesh as the next CM face, but the tension between the old and new guard was visible.

Shivpal in his speech said that he will not tolerate any humiliation of elder brother and SP chief Mulayam, but was willing to give his blood if Akhilesh asked for it.

“I want to tell Akhilesh Ji and other Samajwadis: take whatever sacrifice you want from me, take my blood also. I do not want to be chief minister... You can expel me any number of times, but I won’t bother and keep working for the party... You can humiliate me again but will not tolerate any humiliation of Netaji (Mulayam)”. He couldn’t resist muttering that while some toil throughout their life and get nothing others inherit a legacy or are lucky.

Akhilesh in his speech said: “I respect the sacrifice made by Netaji and other seniors in building the party. I am also willing to give any test that may be needed to show my commitment. The purpose is to defeat the BJP.”

Except for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Third Front leaders Deve Gowda, Sharad Yadav and Lalu turned up, fuelling speculation of a coalition, although formal talks hadn’t yet begun.