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    Not an uncle-nephew, but a father-son clash between Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav

    Synopsis

    Akhilesh had also insisted on sacking Raghuraj Pratap Singh "Raja Bhaiyya" in 2013, after his name cropped up in the murder of Deputy SP Zia Ul Haq.

    ET Bureau
    LUCKNOW: The fight is not between uncles and nephew, but between father and son, the two powerful leaders who live together at 5, Vikramaditya Marg. Despite having an official home at 5 Kalidas Marg, CM Akhilesh Yadav still retires at the end of the day at his father's Vikramaditya Marg house, where his wife MP Dimple Yadav and children also live. But the distance between the two leaders has grown over the last few weeks, leading to a communication breakdown.

    Mulayam's little patience with an increasingly assertive Akhilesh and his youth leaders was evident on Saturday, when he gave an earful to them, saying: "You all are sloganeering only out of sycophancy. You have not been able to form booth panel while Amit Shah has taken a lead".

    That talks between Mulayam and Akhilesh had broken down was also evident from the fact that after the latest feud erupted on Tuesday, Akhilesh refused to go to Mulayam in Delhi. It was only when Mulayam came to Lucknow two days later that Akhilesh went to meet him.

    The tension between the two have been simmering for long, and only became more pronounced in 2014.

    In 2012, Akhilesh inherited a cabinet that Mulayam had formed in 2003-07, with little changes.

    Akhilesh first asserted himself when sacked Vidhuna MLA Pramod Gupta in June 2013. Gupta is a close relative of Mulayam's second wife, Sadhna Gupta. A few months before the sacking, Pramod's son, a student at a management institute in the city, had slapped his teacher and the matter reached Akhilesh who promptly asked his relative to be expelled.

    Akhilesh also has an uneasy relation with principal secretary to CM Anita Singh, who had earlier served Mulayam, and is still said to be taking orders from Vikramaditya Marg. While he was unable to take action against Anita Singh, Akhilesh abruptly removed his chief secretary Jawed Usmani, who had served Mulayam in 1993 and then in 2004.

    Akhilesh blamed Usmani for delaying development projects. Mulayam did not take to Usmani's sacking lightly and later at a public function told Akhilesh: "Do not fall for sycophant officers, who will desert you eventually. Usmani is present here. He used to work efficiently for me, but somehow you have not been able to take work from him. "

    Akhilesh had also insisted on sacking Raghuraj Pratap Singh "Raja Bhaiyya" in 2013, after his name cropped up in the murder of Deputy SP Zia Ul Haq. Mulayam was dead against sacking Singh. Mulayam intervened later and ensured that Singh was back in the cabinet.

    In June 2014, in the course of an interaction with ET, Akhilesh lashed out a IAS officer who is the son of a former Rajya Sabha MP of SP. Within days he was shunted to an insignificant post, much to Mulayam's chargin. Shivpal later rehabilitated the officer in his ministry.

    Akhilesh had in that interaction told ET: "I know what is happening around me. It is just that we are taught to respect our elders. But if things go far I will crack the whip". Such actions against his loyalists by Akhilesh often led Mulayam to say the government's performance was poor.


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