Can Badal senior replicate the UP change of guard story in Punjab?

Saturday, March 10, 2012 - 15:30
Source:
Punjab Newsline Network

By Parul Sharma Singh
Akhilesh Yadav has finally been rewarded for his tremendous work that earned his Samajwadi Party such a stunning mandate in these assembly elections. After maintaining for several days that €Netaji€ (SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav) would be at the helm of affairs in Uttar Pradesh, following a late-night development on Friday, the 38-year-old is now all set to become the chief minister of the state.

Akhilesh is the youngest person to occupy the CM's chair in UP.With the SP getting a landslide victory in UP, primarily owing to young Akhilesh's competence and earnest approach, there were many voices that had begun clamouring for his name for the top post in the state soon after the election verdict was out. The farsighted politician that Mulayam Singh Yadav is, he realised this was the perfect time for the coronation of his heir apparent.

And Yadav senior managed to placate party leader Azam Khan and his own brother Shivpal Yadav to propose Akhilesh's name at a meeting of the newly-elected SP legislators this morning.However, those hoping for a similar change of guard in Punjab -- another state where the son played a crucial role in his party's unexpected win -- may be disappointed.

The political scenario in both UP and Punjab is very different. Even though the Shiromani Akali Dal's victory in the 2012 assembly elections is pretty much its own, it can't ignore its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Therefore, it wouldn't be easy for SAD supremo Parkash Singh Badal to do a Mulayam here in Punjab. No matter how much Badal senior would want such a transition story for his son Sukhbir, that path is anything but easy.

€Parkash Singh Badal is the Vajpayee of Punjab politics. A statesman, he is respected by one and all and stands for communal peace. SAD's alliance partner BJP is very comfortable with him. It is difficult to imagine the BJP settling for anyone other than him for the CM's job in Punjab,€ says Ashutosh Kumar, professor at the Political Science Department of Panjab University, Chandigarh.

€Many from his own party also want only him,€ he adds.Sources claim that even if the real power behind SAD is Sukhbir Singh Badal now, he is far behind his veteran father in terms of image and acceptability.

However many believe, after a couple of years in the top job, Badal senior will gradually and formally pass on the baton to his son after mollifying everyone within his own party and its allies.

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