The Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh and the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh seem to have more things in common than the party symbol they share—the cycle.
The political drama that has been unfolding in the SP between the warring factions of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the past few months resembles the one that TDP faced in 1995—known now as 'August crisis'.
The TDP, founded by the charismatic actor-turned-politician NT Rama Rao, witnessed power struggle between NTR and his son-in-law Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, leading to the eventual dethronement of the former.
In August 1995, Naidu led a revolt against his father-in-law, calling it an attempt to 'save the party'. He had the support of majority of legislators in the assembly, much like the backing Akhilesh has been receiving from SP MLAs now.
The crisis in TDP was because of a woman—NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvathi who made her entry into his life as his biographer. Their marriage in 1993 triggered a storm in the TDP’s first family. Apart from marrying the aging politician, Parvathi began to allegedly interfere in the functioning of the party, causing dissatisfaction among the party members. In UP, however, Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh is being projected by the faction supporting the chief minister.
