The second reason is more surprising. The feud in the SP family has actually enhanced Akhilesh’s image even as it has allocated the blame for all that’s wrong with the regime on the unappealing uncles and interlopers.
Akhilesh is young, personable and preparing a presidential style campaign that showcases him (often with his wife, Dimple Yadav who is actually an asset on her own in the campaign). In the age of the Modi brand of politics, Akhilesh has kept the photo op moments for himself. His regime has delivered on electricity and roads besides giving all manner of freebies.
If father Mulayam Singh Yadav once tapped the rustic energy of the backward castes, Akhilesh taps into an aspirational urge of the upwardly mobile. He speaks the language of connectivity and development beyond sectional appeals to caste/ community groups.
It is hard to find people speak ill of him even if they do not intend to vote for him. Even if he does not retain power, he is a young man with a future in politics.
Equations could further change if SP works on an alliance with Congress. Mulayam is in charge of such arrangements and it’s faltered on the question of seats (he’s reportedly offered 50 plus to the national party). Yet BJP strategists know that trader/ Baniya/ Vaish support could shift to such an alliance as in urban centres like Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi, Congress is still the second party after BJP.
