Lucknow: Akhilesh Yadav is the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, but Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is the person, who is in control of the state government, according to a report.
In public everything seems to be hunky-dory within the Samajwadi Party, but the report says that all is not well within the party and there are too many power centres in the UP government.
According to a report published in 'BBC', some officials have confirmed that it is Mulayam, who is running the government and not the first time CM Akhilesh, whom many consider as immature. They also claimed that Akhilesh, credited of being the youngest chief minister of the country rarely visits his office.
The report quotes retired IAS officer SP Singh saying that there are many 'control centres' in the UP government. Giving credential to his claim, Singh, who retired on December 31 said recently a order was passed that all principal secretaries will have to visit all the districts and spend a night. But who went, he quipped.
Speaking to 'BBC', Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak said there are many power centres in UP, but by playing as an opposition to his son, Mulayam has many times saved Akhilesh from many difficulties.
Giving the example of recently held Zila panchayats, the BJP leader said though Shivpal Yadav was incharge of the elections, but the Akhilesh government's development projects got the credit.
Last month, there were reports about Akhilesh Yadav's unhappiness over sacking of his two close associates from the party few days ago.
The Uttar Pradesh CM absence from inauguration function of 'Saifai Mahotsav’, a cultural festival held every year in his native village in Etawah district kicked off speculations about differences in the Samjawadi Party's top leadership and the Yadav family.
Yielding to sulking Akhilesh, Mulayam last month revoked the expulsion of two of his close proteges, Sunil Singh Sajan and Anand Bhadauria.
Later Akhilesh went to the Saifai Mahotsava after six days of absence. Mulayam also turned ‘soft’ at the persuasion of senior leaders that the incident was sending a wrong message to the people and the party rank and file, specially since the state Assembly elections were just a year away.
The crucial 2017 UP Assembly Elections are still a year away, but if these power centres continue in the SP, the party might find extremely hard to tackle Narendra Modi-led BJP and Mayawati's BSP.
