Akhilesh denies nominations to family members to avoid 'nepotism' charge

In an apparent image makeover bid ahead of the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and to blunt the rivals' 'nepotism' charge, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has made sure that none of his family members and relatives are given the party nominations in the polls.

While Akhilesh himself will be contesting from Karahal assembly seat in Mainpuri district, no other member of the family nor any of his relatives have so far been given nominations and according to the sources in the SP, the party supremo has made it clear that none of them will be fielded in the polls.

This, if it happens, will be in sharp contrast to the previous elections, when many of the members of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav family, India's biggest political family, used to be in the fray.

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In fact the decision not to field family members and relatives this time caused Aparna Yadav, the wife of Akhilesh's younger brother Prateek Yadav, to defect to the BJP. Aparna had sought SP nomination from Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat but Akhilesh refused to oblige her.

Besides Aparna, another close relative of Mulayam and sitting SP MLA from Sirsaganj assembly seat Hari Om Yadav also joined the BJP after being denied re-nomination from his party.

SP sources said that the party's Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav's grandson had also sought a ticket to contest the forthcoming polls but was refused.

The only other member of the Mulayam family who is in the fray is Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is contesting from Jaswant Nagar seat. Shivpal, who had formed his own outfit Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) after being expelled from the SP in 2016 buried his differences with Akhilesh and had joined hands with him this time, is likely to contest on PSP symbol and not on the SP symbol.

Political analysts here felt that the denial of tickets to the family members and relatives was an attempt to change the image of the SP as the party of 'one family'. ''BJP has been terming the SP as a private limited company run by a family......Akhilesh wants to rid the party of this image.....it is certainly a new thing in the SP...a new culture...Akhlesh does not seem to be bothered by the departure of some of the family members and relatives after being denied nomination,'' remarked a Lucknow based analyst.

BJP leaders here, however, sought to make light of the attempted ''image makeover'' of Akhilesh. ''SP has and will always be a party of one family,'' said a senior BJP leader.

The leader said that one of the reasons behind denial of nominations to the family members and relatives could be to accommodate the candidates of SP's alliance partners. ''SP has allied with a number of smaller outfits this time....Akhilesh needs to accommodate them also in ticket distribution....this may be one of the reasons why his family members and relatives are not in the fray this time,'' the BJP leader added.