oppn parties Akhilesh Trumps Mulayam & Shivpal

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Akhilesh Trumps Mulayam & Shivpal

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2017-01-01 09:01:04

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
Proving all calculations wrong, Akhilesh Yadav put together a massive show of strength a day after he was “suspended” from the Samajwadi Party. At a meeting of party legislators called by him, more than 200 turned up and vociferously supported him. That put a pin in the puffed up chest of Shivpal Yadav. Mulayam Singh Yadav was forced to accept realities and immediately revoked the suspension.

It is amazing how a seasoned politician like Mulayam allowed himself to be goaded by misguided advice and family machinations in suspending Akhilesh. Mulayam is known to have his ear to the ground. Did he not gauge the groundswell of support for Akhilesh among party legislators? Or did old age and love for second wife and brother Shivpal made him blind to all that?

As things are getting clearer now, the Yadav family war that has twice brought Samajwadi party on the verge of a split is mainly orchestrated by Mulayam’s second wife Sadhna. She wants a larger political role for her son Prateek. She has Shivpal on her side and both of them have been poisoning Mulayam’s ears with stories against Akhilesh. The patriarch has forgotten raj dharma and allowed himself to be used against Akhilesh.

But with the party and the legislators solidly behind Akhilesh, there is little Mulayam can do. For the first time in his political career, he was forced to yield his iron-like grip on the party and come to terms with the massive clout of his son. This reality check is good because it will perhaps make him keep away from family machinations.

With elections coming nearer, Samajwadi party needs to repair the damage done to its image by this washing of dirty family linen in public. A united SP, perhaps with an alliance with the Congress, could yet salvage something from a seemingly hopeless situation. Akhilesh has been pitching for that. But Mulayam wants to go alone. Maybe after his show of strength, Akhilesh will have his way.