As the Samajwadi Party’s on Friday moved swiftly towards a split, an intense battle has ensued between the two rival factions for use of the outfit’s election symbol – the bicycle.
The schism, which has been brewing for several months, seemed to reach breaking point on Thursday when Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav defied his father, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, and released his own list of candidates for the forthcoming state elections. Earlier in the week, Mulayam Singh Yadav had issued a list that failed to include some of his son’s key aides.
The party’s symbol – the common man’s vehicle – is integral to the Samajwadi Party’s identity, and each faction fears that it will be difficult for it to rally voters if this emblem is used by the other side.
“Most of the MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other elected representatives of the party are with us, and we will have to establish that we are the real Samajwadi Party,” said a leader close to Akhilesh Yadav. “Therefore, if we can’t use the symbol of bicycle, we won’t allow any other group to use it either.”
To discuss this objective, Samajwadi Party general secretary Ramgopal Yadav, a prominent member of the Akhilesh Yadav camp, has called an extraordinary national convention of the party in Lucknow on January 1. The national convention is the Samajwadi Party’s highest decision-making body, which meets periodically and – technically speaking – appoints the party’s national office-bearers, including its president.
According to people familiar with the situation, the Akhilesh Yadav camp hopes that even if it is unable to assume control of the party, a dispute at the national convention could be enough to send the party name and its election symbol into legal quagmire. This would prevent the Mulayam Singh Yadav camp to use them in the Assembly elections.
Quick explusions
It is not surprising that soon after Ramgopal Yadav called the national convention, Mulayam Singh Yadav struck back. He first issued showcause notices to Akhilesh Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav, and then, without waiting for their replies, hurriedly convened a press conference on Friday, expelling them and declaring that the proposed convention was unconstitutional.
“No one has the right to call the meeting of party’s national convention other than the party president,” Mulayam Singh Yadav said. “Neither the national executive of the party nor the parliamentary board has passed any resolution to convene such a meeting. Nor have 40% members of the national convention demanded that it should be convened. The national convention called by Ramgopal is, therefore, unconstitutional.”
People in the Akhilesh Yadav camp, however, claimed that nearly 60% members of the national convention have signed a document demanding that it be convened in order to sort out leadership crisis in the party.
While expelling the two, Mulayam also issued a general appeal to members of the highest decision-making body of the party to stay away from the proposed national convention on January 1.
The jousing over the party emblem is not surprising. Over the last two-and-a-half decades, the bicycle symbol has reached every nook and corner of Uttar Pradesh. Settling claims to the emblem will help each faction prepare their strategies for the electoral battle in the state.
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