Akhilesh, architech of SP win, could be made Deputy CM

Is the Punjab model going to be adopted in Uttar Pradesh, too?

In Punjab, the father-son duo of Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh are CM and Deputy CM respectively.

After the Samajwadi party’s huge victory, Mulayam Singh is  widely expected to become CM, but that leaves Akhilesh—the architect of the victory—without a clear role. The chances are that he will be made Deputy CM with effective charge of the government.

The fact that Mulayam Singh is not in great health means that he will depend on Akhilesh to do most of the hard work of running the government and implementing policy.

Mulayam Singh has never won a majority on his own in UP. He has always needed to build a coalition. This time, the SP doesn’t need any political party or even ‘independent MLAs’ to run the government. And Akhilesh Yadav was the ‘star’ campaigner in this unprecedented SP victory.

Speaking to a news channel, Akhilesh made it clear that Netaji (his father) will be the chief minister. Earlier too, Akhilesh did not take any ministerial position in the Mulayam Singh government. He has been the Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj since 2000 and has preferred to work for the party even when his father was CM the last time.

However, this time the speculation is that Akhilesh may get a ministerial berth or even the post of deputy chief minister to work closely with his father. “Akhilesh set the tone for this victory. He single-handedly changed the party manifesto to reflect the aspirations of GenNext. He offered freebies, which brought in massive support from young voters. I am sure he is going to be part of the SP government, even when Netaji will be the chief minister,” says a senior SP leader.

Going by present trends, Mulayam Singh’s SP is expected to get 223-and-odd assembly seats on its own. No film stars were used for the campaign. Nor there was any ’negative’ campaign targeting Mayawati or, for that matter, any other major politician.

Making amends, apparently on the recommendations of his son Akhilesh, Mulayam threw Kalyan Singh out as alliance partner and apologised to Muslims of the state. He threw his long-time partner Amar Singh out of the party and brought back dissident Azam Khan back to the party.

All this happened with the tacit advice of Akhilesh, party insiders say. Now, when the SP, like Mayawati’s BSP, is expected to enjoy uninterrupted rule for five years, Mulayam is likely to rope in Akhilesh as his government advisor for all practical purposes.

In the past, Mulayam’s brother Ram Gopal Yadav used to be his trusted lieutenant. He has, however, been sidelined this time because he had allegedly allowed the SP to degenerate into “goonda raj”. It was Akhilesh Yadav who snubbed Ram Gopal by categorically refusing to give a party ticket to history-sheeter DP Yadav.

All eyes are set on the swearing-in ceremony of Mulayam Singh as next CM of UP later this week, when he is expected to publicly announce his son as his deputy.

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