Samajwadi rebel MP campaigns for BJP candidate son

Samajwadi rebel MP campaigns for BJP candidate son
SHARAD GUPTA

NEW DELHI, FEB 11: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has a rebel on his hands and that too in his home district of Etawah. His party MP Balram Singh Yadav is campaigning for his son Ajay, who is the BJP's candidate for the Bharthana Assembly by-poll scheduled for February 19.

Though by-polls in three constituencies will not affect the government's stability, the Bharthana election has taken an interesting turn with Balram Yadav actively working for his son. Ironically enough, his main complaint against Mulayam Singh is the party chief's nepotism.

``Mulayam is running the party as his personal property,'' a close aide of Balram Singh said. The party chief got his son Akhilesh elected to the Lok Sabha from Mainpuri; brother Shiv Pal Singh Yadav is the SP Legislature Party leader in UP and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav is a Rajya Sabha MP.

In fact, Balram Singh is the second partyman to rebel against Mulayam in the past six months. Earlier, former Aonla MP Sarvaraj Singh was expelled from the party while another MP, Sakshi Maharaj, had recently threatened to launch a new party.

Pitted against Balram Yadav's son is Pradeep Yadav, a former MP from Kannauj. Since 1985, Bharthana was represented by the SP's Maharaj Singh Yadav and the by-election was necessitated by his death. Maharaj's son Vinod, alias Kakka, was not given the SP ticket, prompting him to contest on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. The Congress too has fielded a defector, Gore Lal Shakya, who quit BJP after being denied a ticket in the party.

Other than Vinod, Ajay and Balram Singh's rebellion, Mulayam has to deal with the division among the Yadavs -- who constitute 45 per cent of the electorate -- along caste lines. Mulayam is a Kamaria Yadav and so are Ajay and Vinod. But Ghosi Yadavs, who comprise half the Yadav populace in Bharthana, are supporting Ajay under the influence of state Tourism Minister Ashok Yadav and Union Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav, who are both Ghosis.

While Sharad has already kicked off his campaign, Ashok will start his tomorrow. A former Mulayam aide, Ashok had crossed over to the BJP in 1995 and contested Parliamentary polls against his mentor from Mainpuri in 1998, losing marginally.

Mulayam's only solace may be derived from the bickerings in the BJP camp. Samajwadi Party may also net the sizeable Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Muslim votes.

Of the other two by-poll seats, BJP has a strong presence in Sarsanwan (Saharanpur) that fell vacant after the brutal killing of its MLA, Nirbhay Pal Sharma, by dacoits. Raghav Lakhanpal, Sharma's son, is the BJP candidate there.

In Siwal Khas (reserved) seat in Meerut, BSP candidate Sunder Lal is locked in a fight with Lok Dal's Charan Singh and BJP's Kailash Bharti. The seat fell vacant after the death of Banarsi Das Chandna of the Lok Dal.