On the subject of political trapeze as an artwork, Mulayam Singh Yadav was a consummate artist. Be it Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee or Left leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, all of them have been flummoxed by Netaji’s politics of pragmatism — his critics would say politics of deception and opportunism — at completely different factors of time.
Be it Mulayam’s surprising raking up of Sonia’s Italian descent situation to foil her bid to type an alternate authorities after the A B Vajpayee authorities fell by one vote in 1999, or his U-turn on the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008, his strikes have stunned and surprised associates and foe. Actually, his associates extra.
Sonia bought a style of Mulayam’s guile and tact in 1999. Having entered politics a 12 months earlier than, she was new to the complexities of Indian politics and tactfulness of its practitioners. The Vajpayee authorities’s fall in 1999 had raised political warmth and Sonia, egged on by the Left Entrance, was exploring the choice of staking declare to type a authorities.
She met President Ok R Narayanan and famously introduced within the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan that she had relayed that “we now have 272 and we hope to get extra”. Sonia was assured of the 20-MP Samajwadi Get together’s assist. However Mulayam pitched CPI(M) veteran Jyoti Basu’s identify for the highest publish — despite the fact that CPI(M) had rejected the thought in 1996 itself — after which, in an surprising flip of occasions, raised the difficulty of Sonia’s international origin.
The SP chief refused to again Sonia, foiling her plan to type a authorities and forcing a midterm election.
Minimize to 2001. With Meeting polls in Uttar Pradesh simply months away, Mulayam agreed to be part of an Opposition assembly attended by Sonia at Somnath Chatterjee’s 21-Ashoka Highway residence to resolve Parliament ground technique. It was time to bury the hatchet with the Congress president. Her Italian descent was not a difficulty any extra.
With SP rising as the one largest occasion with 143 seats within the February 2002 UP elections, Mulayam once more despatched a phrase to Sonia by way of CPI(M) chief Harkishan Singh Surjeet, in search of assist. The Congress had 25 MLAs, and Sonia was not . When the BSP-BJP authorities headed by Mayawati fell a 12 months later in 2003, Mulayam managed to safe Congress’s assist.
Mulayam received the arrogance vote and have become CM for the third time. He even regretted his remarks in opposition to Sonia: “In 1999, I made massive errors,” he had mentioned forward of a gathering along with her.
In 2002, after which in 2008, it was the flip of the Left to be on the receiving finish of Mulayam’s somersaults. In 2002, he had assured the Left of its assist in fielding a candidate for President’s elections in opposition to the then ruling NDA’s nominee. Mulayam proposed A P J Abdul Kalam’s identify to Surjeet, who was not in favour of the scientist.
The BJP’s first alternative was P C Alexander. The Congress and a few opposition events had been in favour of Vice President Krishan Kant. In an surprising transfer, Mulayam proposed Kalam’s identify to Vajpayee, who readily agreed. The Left felt betrayed and fielded Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.
In 2008, the SP was with the Left in opposing the India-US nuclear deal. The occasion had even shared the stage with CPI(M) at a rally, slamming the UPA’s vote in opposition to Iran at IAEA. However in July 2008, the SP famously modified its stand and bailed out the Manmohan Singh authorities within the July 22 belief vote after the Left withdrew assist.
The SP’s justification for the turnaround: Kalam had instructed them that the deal was in India’s curiosity. His critics argued the volte face was the results of a CBI inquiry Mulayam and his household had been then dealing with for allegedly having acquired belongings disproportionate to their identified sources of revenue.
Curiously, within the months after the belief vote, Mulayam’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, denying allegations that she held benami property on behalf of the household. Singh forwarded her letter to CBI, which sought a authorized opinion.
In November 2008, then solicitor common G E Vahanvati gave his opinion: that belongings of Dimple and Malti Devi, Mulayam’s late first spouse, couldn’t be clubbed with the SP chief’s, as they “held no public workplace”. In December 2008, CBI filed an utility earlier than the courtroom, in search of withdrawal of its earlier plea on the registration of an everyday case in opposition to the Yadavs.
In 2012, it was West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s flip to be surprised in the course of the President’s election. Banerjee and Yadav teamed up and launched three names : A P J Abdul Kalam, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. They introduced the names after Banerjee met Sonia, who instructed her that Congress’s first alternative was Pranab Mukherjee, and that then Vice President Hamid Ansari was additionally being thought-about.
Banerjee wished to flex her muscle tissue. However little did she find out about Mulayam’s penchant for energy play. Inside 48 hours, Yadav sprang a shock by saying his assist for Mukherjee. “Developments happen in politics and we modify our selections accordingly. I’m not an astrologer and so I don’t know what is going to occur when,” Yadav had mentioned after the flop-flop.