Akhilesh Yadav signals pushback against Congress-centric Opposition?

The Opposition bloc partners once again seem unhappy with the Congress, this time over the party moving away from its long-time partner, the DMK, in Tamil Nadu. Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav wrote a pointed message saying he is not one who abandons allies in times of difficulty; Yadav’s dig appears to be a political message aimed at keeping the Congress in check in Uttar Pradesh, where both parties target the same secular vote bank.

Akhilesh Yadav tweeted two photographs of meetings with two former chief ministers who lost elections in the last few days—one with Mamata Banerjee and another with M. K. Stalin—captioning them: “We are not the ones who abandon each other in times of difficulty.”

The posturing could perhaps be a way to keep the “ginger group” within the INDIA bloc alive—a group that was quietly led by Mamata Banerjee and had internal support from leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and other regional players within the bloc. Or Akhilesh’s message could simply be a pushback against the buzz around a Congress-centric alignment within the Opposition bloc following the losses of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and M. K. Stalin in Tamil Nadu, where the Samajwadi Party could find itself weaker after Mamata’s loss. The SP does not want to give any impression of a weak standing before the Congress, nor does it wish to hand a free hand or any kind of leverage to the Congress in UP before the assembly elections scheduled for next year.

It was believed that the SP would readily align with the Congress, with the latter having the upper hand. However, the tweet could mean a pushback against that narrative.

In politics, parties ultimately serve their own interests. If an alliance helps a party grow, gain a voter base, or remain buoyant, the alliance survives. Otherwise, it becomes a zero-sum game, where one's growth is another's decline.

"Politicians think about politics all the time. Nationally, if Akhilesh is supporting Stalin and Mamata and saying ‘we don’t abandon people in times of difficulty’, it may be a kind of posturing ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections. He may want to tell the Congress that at the negotiating table, we are a stronger force," said a political analyst who didn't wish to be named.

"Had Akhilesh faced any threat from Stalin taking away his vote bank or contesting on his turf, he would never have publicly supported him. It is just that Akhilesh knows there is no threat from Stalin or Mamata, and by keeping himself relevant at all political levels, he is being responsive."