No split yet, but Mulayam's SP is a party divided

LUCKNOW: With chief minister Akhilesh Yadav saying he is willing to go it alone, Samajwadi Party appears sharply divided even if nobody is talking about a split.
While the Uttar Pradesh CM said he would embark on his ‘vikas yatra’ on his own, his father Mulayam Singh Yadav has called a meeting of all key functionaries of the party — MPs, MLAs, MLCs and former public representatives — on October 24.
The impression being given is that Mulayam will decide the next course of action based on the advice of these functionaries on that day.
Before that meeting, his brother and state SP chief Shivpal Yadav will hold two crucial meetings on October 21 and 22, to be attended by district party bosses and state executive members.
The attendance at these meetings would indicate Shivpal’s hold on the state unit and also reflect which faction enjoys more support within the party.
While Akhilesh is firm on his three demands — reinstatement of sacked youth officials, control over distribution of tickets and purging the party of criminal elements — the party and elders are yet to reciprocate.
With the youth brigade, considered close to Akhilesh, announcing its boycott of SP’s silver jubilee function if seven sacked officials aren’t reinstated, and Akhilesh declaring his solo run, there are no signs of a thaw.
The youth brigade has started preparing for Akhilesh’s yatra from its office at the Janeshwar Mishra Trust, inaugurated by the CM on October 9.
Shivpal, immediately after Akhilesh’s letter, constituted a committee under the chairmanship of minister Gayatri Prajapati for the silver jubilee functions and named Narad Rai, Paras-nath Yadav, Kamal Akhtar, Manoj Pandey and Vishambhar Nishad — all Mulayam loyalists — as its members.
The family feud, that began as a turf battle between ‘chacha’ Shivpal and ‘bhatija’, has ended up pitting Akhilesh against his father. The faultlines appear to have thus become deeper. While Mulayam has so far been seen aligned with Shivpal, his cousin and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav has come out in Akhilesh’s support.
Which way the party heads in the crucial election year should be reasonably clear after the next three meetings. While October 21 and 22 meetings would be acid test for Shivpal as state unit chief, Mulayam is likely to take some hard decisions after the October 24 meeting to check the party’s disintegration, an SP source close to the Yadav family said.