After showing initial enthusiasm over the Congress victory in Karnataka — describing it as a mandate for a “new India” against the divisive politics of the BJP — Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to skip the swearing-in ceremony of the new Congress government on May 20 made it clear that any hope of a joint Opposition front against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is a distant dream.
Mr. Yadav decided to tour eastern U.P. on Saturday and was scheduled to also meet the family members of late Minister Hari Shankar Tiwari — for decades, a bête noire of U.P. CM Yogi Adityanath — in Gorakhpur. The SP chief had to cancel this planned visit at the last moment due to a death in his family.
No SP representative
“Our leader congratulated the Congress for the victory, but he had a pre-decided schedule before the date of the swearing-in was announced,” SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Yadav Sajan, a close aide of the party president, told The Hindu. He added that it was not necessary to stand behind the Congress. “We have maintained that the party which is strong in a particular State should be kept in forefront while contesting the polls there against the BJP, and in U.P., the SP is the only party which can defeat the saffron party, so others should stand behind us,” said Mr. Sajan. In fact, no representative from the SP attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Since the Karnataka results were announced last week, Mr. Yadav has toned down his attacks on the Congress. He described the southern State’s verdict as “the beginning of the end” for the BJP. “The message from Karnataka is that the end of BJP’s negative, communal, corrupt, divisive, false propaganda, individualistic politics has begun. This is a mandate of new positive India against inflation, unemployment, corruption and animosity,” he said. Days later, he supported the statement of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding Opposition unity at the national level, adding that the party which is strong in a State should be kept in the forefront while contesting an election in that State or region.
The SP’s warmth towards the Congress came after months of bitterness in which Mr. Yadav even said that both the BJP and the Congress were the same. He had hinted that the SP would field a candidate in Amethi — a Congress pocket borough represented till 2019 by the Gandhi family — where the SP has not contested since 1996. “Our party has a different ideology. The BJP and the Congress are the same,” he said in December 2022 when asked about joining the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra, which he also gave a miss.
Solo challenger
The SP chief’s planned schedule to visit Gorakhpur, the home turf of CM Yogi Adityanath, and to meet the late Tiwari’s family — all on the day of Karnataka government formation — seems to indicate that he plans to project himself as the sole challenger to the BJP in the State.
“I don’t read too much into Mr. Yadav scheduling a visit to Gorakhpur on the same day of Karnataka government formation but yes, I do think he is maintaining a distance from the Congress,” said Shashi Kant Pandey, a political scientist teaching at Lucknow Central University. When asked what could be the SP chief’s motive, Mr. Pandey added, “The SP believes Congress is a liability in U.P., as the grand-old-party’s performance was disastrous in the 2022 Assembly polls. So it thinks, why waste seats by giving them to theCongress.” In the 2022 Assembly polls, despite a spirited campaign led by the party’s general secretary in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress won only two seats in the Vidhan Sabha of 403 with a vote share of just 2.33 percent, its lowest ever in the State which it ruled for almost four decades.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief and Rajya Sabha member Jayant Chaudhary, an ally of the SP, did attend the swearing-in function in Bengaluru. “RLD is an independent party, hence its leader was wanting to keep his options open in any Opposition front formation for the future,” added Mr. Pandey.
