Did Akhilesh’s ‘SP will go it alone’ stem from meeting with Amit Shah?

Two days back, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav, in an interview to a news agency, said that Samajwadi Party will not go for an alliance as it is consolidating its position in Uttar Pradesh and is working on every constituency.

The statement made big political news and was seen to have dented Opposition unity as the Congress and Samajwadi Party are considered natural allies for the 2019 general elections. The contours of this alliance were also visible in Gujarat where, despite Samajwadi Party having no presence, Rahul Gandhi allowed Akhilesh to contest on five Assembly seats, all of which the SP lost.

In this scenario, the statement coming from Akhilesh Yadav has given a new grist to political gossip as to what is actually cooking within Samajwadi Party.

Questions are raised whether Akhilesh’s statement has something to do with the January 3 dinner meeting in New Delhi which was attended by BJP national President Amit Shah. It is believed that the meeting was organised by a senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha member whose brother has recently joined the BJP. The meeting was also attended by Professor Ram Gopal Yadav. A senior journalist was instrumental in bringing Amit Shah to that meeting.

In that meeting, it is believed, that Amit Shah was able to convince the Samajwadi Party leadership to not go for an alliance in 2019, particularly in UP . Why he said this and why the SP leadership agreed on the same is not clear but the statement of Akhilesh Yadav is a reflection of Samajwadi Party’s mindset.

The big question remains as to why Amit Shah is afraid of a unified SP and Congress. Why does he want both these parties to contest elections separately in Uttar Pradesh? The fact is that the popularity of the BJP is on the wane. People are dissatisfied with the Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in the state and are looking for a change.

If the Congress and SP contest as an alliance, it will be able to stop a division of the Muslim vote bank. Once Muslims come with this alliance, other castes will automatically join them making it a potent combination to checkmate the BJP. A fractured Opposition will help the BJP and Amit Shah.

This trend was visible in the just concluded municipal corporation elections where the BJP lost mayoral elections in the two corporations of Meerut and Aligarh because Muslims voted unitedily against the BJP. In the other 14 corporations, opposition vote got divided and this division of votes went in favour of the BJP.

Amit Shah wants to keep the Opposition a divided house. That’s why he probably used the January 3 meeting with SP leaders to influence Akhilesh to stay away from the Congress.

Only time will tell if he has succeeded.