Mayavati, Mulayam Singh Yadav

Nov. 10: The Samajwadi Party today suffered a rout in its bastions with its rebels helping Mayavati eat into Mulayam Singh Yadav’s OBC votes for the first time, making her the biggest winner of these Uttar Pradesh bypolls.

The Congress did the same to Mulayam by fielding another Samajwadi rebel, Raj Babbar, in the high-profile battle in Firozabad, turning the former chief minister into the biggest loser of these 12 byelections.

Not only did the Samajwadis draw a blank and were drubbed at all the six seats they held, but Mulayam suffered personal humiliation with Babbar defeating his daughter-in-law Dimple by 85,343 votes in Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency.

After the results, even Samajwadi sources carped about Mulayam’s runaway dynastic politics involving his “bhai-bhathija-bahu (brother, nephew, daughter-in-law)”.

A text message underlined the cost to “netaji” Mulayam’s “family honour”, saying: “Ye kaise neta hain jo apni bahu ki raksha nahin kar paye (what sort a leader is this who can’t protect his daughter-in-law)?”

The BJP too scored a duck but the Congress underlined its status as an emerging power in the state, winning Firozabad after 25 years and the Lucknow West Assembly seat after 24.

The Congress cashed in on the infighting in the Lucknow BJP, many of whose workers did not campaign in Lucknow West because MP Lalji Tandon’s son had been denied the ticket.

Mayavati’s score of nine out of 11 Assembly seats comes at a time she is under the cosh from the courts and critics over her penchant for building extravagant memorials at public expense. She is now likely to claim that all the public criticism meant nothing since it failed to erode her popularity.

What will please her most is that the BSP, which has been capitalising on its Dalit-Brahmin alliance, has now succeeded in achieving a long-time target: splitting Mulayam’s OBC votes.

Mayavati micro-managed the bypolls herself, and personally selected the candidates for their political standing and caste following rather than their bank balance. She fielded former Samajwadi candidates from Mulayam’s pocket boroughs of Etawah and Bharthena and won.

“The OBC voters are coming to us,” BSP state president S.P. Maurya crowed.

Firozabad, with its Yadav-Lodh-Rajput-Muslim combination, would normally ensure a win even for a Samajwadi “dummy” let alone a bahu, a party source said. Given the socio-political status a “bahu” carries in the state (think Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Dikshit, Ameeta Singh), a defeat was virtually unthinkable.

Firozabad veterans said a section of the Yadavs had voted Congress, inspired by Rahul Gandhi’s campaign, while another section had stayed away from voting. The turnout at the constituency was 49 per cent.

Many voters were apparently put off that Mulayam’s son Akhilesh had vacated the seat, after winning by 50,000 votes in May, choosing to retain the other constituency he had won, Kannauj.

“It’s a vote for Rahul. It’s a vote against the betrayal of Akhilesh, who chose to insult the mandate of the people here,” said Babbar, who polled 312,728 votes to Dimple’s 227,385.

The Samajwadi defeats continue the party’s downward slide since the Lok Sabha polls when it dropped 15 seats.

“My party and I accept the people’s mandate,” a pensive Mulayam said in Etawah. He said party leaders would soon meet and discuss the reasons behind the rout.

One Samajwadi source, however, had no doubt about the reason. “There are limits to the sort of bhai-bhathija-bahu politics Mulayam is doing. The voters will tolerate one or two family members, not more,” he said.

Dynastic politics, however, has created problems even within the dynasty. Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal, already angry at Akhilesh’s appointment as state Samajwadi chief, had been furious after being told his wife Sarla would not be fielded from Firozabad.

“It was a battle between the nuclear family and the extended one,” a source said.

Although Shivpal has no clout of his own, the snub to him was seen as an “insult” to someone who had stood by Mulayam through thick and thin.

Sources said Dimple’s defeat could fan the political ambitions of Mulayam’s younger son Pratheek, introducing a new player in the dynasty game.