Cycling ahead

Cycling ahead

EC decision is a boost to Akhilesh, Mulayam should not now be a spoke in the wheel.
UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is now numero uno in the Samajwadi Party (SP) after the Election Commission (EC) ruled that the party symbol ¬ the cycle ¬ will remain with Akhilesh rather than his father and founder of the party ¬ Mulayam Singh Yadav. EC's decision should draw the curtain on a bitter family drama where the new and old guard have been locked in a bitter tussle to control SP. Mulayam should now ensure a smooth transition and back his son rather than rant and rave against him.The latter will only weaken his party , confuse its core voter and strengthen BJP, which hopes to cash in on a divided SP and regain UP after 15 years.
But Akhilesh has gone from strength to strength ever since the coup staged on January 2 where he replaced Mulayam as the party president. Akhilesh and his uncle, Ram Gopal Yadav, meticulously planned their moves and subsequently submitted three trunks full of documents which included affidavits from 205 of 228 MLAs, 56 out of 68 MLCs and 15 out of 24 MPs among others to EC, which left it with no option but to bequeath the cycle symbol to Akhilesh.
EC's decision gives a free hand to Akhilesh to decide on party candidates and puts him in the driver's seat in negotiating alliances with Congress and other like minded parties like RLD, JD(U) and RJD. Congress has already announced it will fight the assembly elections with Akhilesh, who shares a good rapport with Rahul Gandhi giving both sides flexibility to hammer out a seat-sharing agreement. Although their alliance may be touted as a mahagathbandhan it is not really comparable to the Bihar situation as BSP, a major player in UP, is outside its ambit.
Even if Akhilesh has to sit in opposition after the assembly elections, that would provide him the ideal platform to rebuild the party on his own terms. He can weed out criminal elements and push the modernising and development-oriented agenda he has been trying to champion for the last two years. He will be well placed to leverage his image as a strong youth leader who stood up against his family for the larger cause of the party. Mulayam should now gracefully pass the baton and not be a spoke in the wheel of SP's cycle.