Akhilesh faces an enemy within

BJP may use sis-in-law Aparna as symbol of disunity in Mulayam-Akhilesh family.

By Akhilesh Tripathi

Lucknow: Warfare within the family members of the Mulayam Singh Yadav played the spoilsport with the party’s prospects in 2017. The revolt by Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Yadav proved to be the nemesis of the Samajwadi Party then fighting the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. Odds then were certainly heavy against him as the party was carrying the weight of incumbency. Moreover, the BJP was upbeat what with Union Government led by Narendra Modi wanting to grab the largest Hindi state at all cost.

Some sort of mini revolt in the Mulayam household is gaining traction again this time as Mulayam’s daughter-in law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP at the height of election activity in the State on Wednesday by accepting a shawl from party president J. P. Nadda at the BJP national headquarters in Delhi. Aparna is wife of Prateek Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav from his second and not much known wife Sadhana Gupta.

Aparna is also related to Yogi Adityanath and is likely to be fielded from Lucknow Cantt. She had been provided by high grade security by the Yogi government several months ago. Aparna’s father Mr. Arvind Singh Bisht was a journalist working with Hindi daily Hindustan in its Lucknow bureau. He was even Director of Public Information during the reign of Akhilesh Yadav.