Aditya Sinha: SP family feud is Amit Shah's gain

An SP supporter sets himself ablaze outside UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavrsquos residence to protest his expulsion from the party on Friday PicPTIBJP chief Amit Shah must be smiling Itrsquos 2017 and his plans are falling into place His aim is to win the coming UP Assembly election He needs to do so not just to prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modirsquos demonetisation gambit was correct and not just to have a ISROtype launch pad for the 2019 general election so that Modi can win the second of his plannedfor three terms in office but also so that the BJP have enough legislative votes to elect their own choice for President of India this July disregard all speculation at this point the RSS wants its own man in Rashtrapati Bhawan He got a huge boost this weekend with the drama tearing apart the Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son UP Chief Minister AkhileshThe TV news on Sunday was a rollercoaster of developments centering around this Oedipal battle Just two days earlier the father had thrown the son as well as his own cousin Ram Gopal out of the party it was a development worthy of a banana republic The reason was power Mulayam and younger brother Shivpal control the SP and have a list of candidates for the coming election Akhilesh who in his fiveyear tenure has broken away from the partyrsquos image of criminality nepotism and general backwardness and whose highly photogenic wife Dimple doesnrsquot harm his youthful progressive image has his own list of candidates some of whom donrsquot overlap with his dadrsquos and chacharsquosThe actual struggle for power appears to be between Akhilesh and Mulayamrsquos two Sasikalas One of the culprits is Amar Singh referred to in UP as Kans mama the wicked uncle of the most famous Yadav in Indian mythology Lord Krishna we all know what end he met with Where there is trouble there you will find Amar Singh Despite his mischief potential or perhaps because of it he has many friends across the political spectrum one of them is Amit ShahThe other culprit is Mulayamrsquos second wife Sadhana Gupta Though their son Prateek was born in 1988 he married her only after Akhileshrsquos mother Malti Devi passed away in 2003 As any TV addict or Ramayana enthusiast can guess she is ambitious for her son Akhilesh is obviously no Lord Rama in his attitude towards his stepmother Why does Mulayam listen to her It is said that when Mulayam was struggling with cancer a few years back the UPA was still in power and was in a renowned private hospital CM Akhilesh did not come to visit him even once Perhaps it was because Sadhana was taking care of his father In any case the lack of filial piety sticks in Mulayamrsquos mind Thus what Sadhana says goesOnce Akhilesh was thrown out of the party saner heads tried to amicably resolve the matter Father and son had a facetoface on Saturday and given that most of the incumbent legislators backed Akhilesh Mulayam revoked the expulsions It appeared that Akhilesh had won On Sunday Akhilesh decided to do to his Dad what Modi did to BJP gerontocrat LK Advani neuter him by making him a marg darshak The son declared himself party chief so as to tighten his grip on the party machinery and in turn threw Amar Singh out of the party The father then retaliated by ousting Akhileshrsquos confidante Ram Gopal and called for a party convention on Thursday where matters would ostensibly be thrashed outYoursquod think this messy family feud would have Mayawati sitting pretty but of late she appears to be less confident than she was say on January 1 2016 At that time many believed she would be a shooin as the next UP chief minister It appeared that she had a rocksolid combination of Dalit and Muslim voters that would propel her to a majority in the Assembly election Whether it is the surgical strike or the demonetisation drive and the revelation that her brother had over a hundred crore rupees in old currency that he changed she has lost some of her lustre And before the family feud erupted reports from UP said that the Muslim vote was not a given for MayawatiAmit Shahrsquos game plan for the coming state election was to cleave not just the Dalit vote and not just the Muslim vote but also the nonYadav OBC vote The current fatherson feud is serving his purpose with regard to the last two objectives And for the piegravece de reacutesistance he is looking forward to the budget presentation a month from now when ldquothe biggest tax reform since independencerdquo as finance minister Arun Jaitley put it is announced That sounds like the abolition of income tax If so it would be a happy 2017 indeed for Amit ShahSenior journalist Aditya Sinha is a contributor to the recently published anthology House Spirit Drinking in India He tweets autumnshade Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom