Mulayam Singh Yadav and the game of thrones

NEW DELHI: Mulayam Singh Yadav is prone to ditching those he appears to be supporting and his "ultimate aim" is to ensconce his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in the Samajwadi Party despite the apparent friction, several party sources said. Although Mulayam, the party national president, seems to be leaning towards his younger brother Shivpal, the state unit president could just be a "pawn", many party leaders believe. "Mulayam succeeded in making his son the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2012. I believe whatever he is doing now is aimed at establishing his son firmly in the party, which is a more difficult task than people imagine," a Samajwadi politician who has been with Mulayam for over a decade said.

"Whatever else we are seeing is just drama, in which people like Shivpal are pawns." The source alluded to how Mulayam had in June 2012 appeared to support Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's efforts to prop up a rival against Pranab Mukherjee for the post of President before suddenly doing an about-turn and backing Mukherjee. "There is a saying in Samajwadi circles that Mulayam will fall sick if he doesn't keep ditching those who trust him the most. The last time he had resorted to backstabbing was in June 2012," he said. Mulayam's critics cite many instances from the past to buttress their claim. In 1999, after the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Mulayam had allegedly promised Sonia Gandhi that he would support any Congress attempt to form the ministry before leaving her in the lurch. Mulayam is said to have broken his word to the CPM and the CPI at least half-a-dozen times on various issues. The Left had felt betrayed when he supported the UPA government on the India-US nuclear deal and helped it survive a trust motion in July 2008. In 1989, Mulayam had taken help from the BJP, a party he has often dubbed communal, to become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He had dumped his "friend" Chandra Shekhar to support V.P. Singh's claim for the Prime Minister's job that year, but changed sides the following year when Chandra Shekhar replaced VP in the hot seat after the BJP withdrew support to the government. Asked at that time to explain his switch of loyalties, Mulayam had told reporters he was not averse to "new experiments in politics". -The Teleegraph Calcutta