Etawah: Shivpal Yadav meets his supports, only a dozen at SS Memorial College in Sefai. With less than twenty-two hours to go for the elections, his aides from as far as Azamgarh in the far east have come here to manage the elections in Jaswantnagar, one of the three assembly segments in Etawah.
Jaswantnagar, after all, is Mulayam's pocket borough. The seat from where MSY started his political career in 1967. And Mulayam won from here all along except only once when Congress fielded his local adversary Balram SINGH Yadav in early eighties.
Later MSY handed over the legacy, at least this seat in the heart of Yadav stronghold to his brother Shivpal.
In the last one month, Mulayam had had to play a reluctant referee between his son Akhilesh and brother Shivpal in the bitter power struggle to carry forward the legacy of perhaps one of the most power regional satraps to challenge the Congress hegemony in the Hindi heartland.
Akhilesh towards the fag end of the election campaign for the third phase of electioneering in UP addressed rallies in Etawah and adjoining Mainpuri. He, however, skipped Jaswantnagar, his Chacha's seat.
Everything is fine in Mainpuri, he said while addressing a rally in Bharthana, an assembly segment in Etawah. But then there are people who are trying to create trouble within the adjoining Etawah.
The chasm within is evident in Etawah city seat where SP has fielded a close aide of Ram Gopal Yadav instead of the sitting MLA close to Shivpal Yadav. Shantu Gupta is also a chairman of the municipal corporation. He faces a stiff challenge from Ballu Chadhary of the BSP and Sarita Bhaduria of the BJP.
Shantu is considered Ram Gopal Yadav nominee in Etawah. The fight for the city seat has fast developed into a direct battle between Ram Gopal and Shivpal.
At his residence on Sefai - Etawah Road, Ram Gopal sits quietly amidst the hullabaloo of the election campaign. He is confident SP will be able to repeat it's performance of the last assembly election when the party won 55 out of 69 seats in this region and central UP.
BJP here backs on non-Yadav OBC votes, especially Lodhs and Shakya. BSP, on the other hand, is relying on Brahmin, Dalits and Muslims.
In the adjoining Bharthana seat, again SP is up against BSP. Bharthana again has a high concentration of Yadav votes. Mulayam has represented this assembly seat in UP assembly. These are different times. SP, however, feels Yadavs for whatever reasons will mobilise around a symbol and party associated with their social and political empowerment.
It's for the first time that SP since its inception has had a pre-poll alliance with Congress. There are no remnants of the Grand Old Party in this part of the state. Though Congress by some strange quirk of fate is linked to Etawah.
Congress' founder Allan Octavian Hume was the Collector of Etawah around 1870. The renowned ornithologist thought of creating a pressure valve in the pre-independence India to let the natives manifest their political aspirations within the realms of the British Raj.
The baton later was taken over by the local leadership to win freedom from the imperial rule.
MSY's son this election has decided to align with the Congress.
Though Congress is not contesting from any seats in Etawah, Mainpuri and Auraiya districts.
The challenge for SP is from within.
After his election Sunday morning, Shivpal Yadav some say will not be as cautious in his utterances as he has been thus far.
It's a matter of survival after all. And in the last six months, he's has been at the receiving end all along.
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