An intense game of not-so-musical chairs is currently being played within the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, causing a dark shadow on the upcoming Assembly elections.
Tickets for the Assembly polls are being changed and re-changed in the Samajwadi with an alarming frequency, fuelling unrest and factionalism within the party cadres. Senior party leaders quietly admit that this could lead to internal sabotage on about 40 per cent seats in the polls, upsetting the political calculations of the party leadership.
The Samajwadi Party, it may be recalled, had taken an early lead in poll preparedness when it announced its candidates much ahead of its rivals.
The party believed that an early announcement of candidates will not only give the contestants ample time to prepare for the campaign but will also douse voices of dissent over ticket distribution.
However, as the tickets were announced, the party leadership realised its folly and the process of changing tickets began. A classic example of the indecisiveness of the party leadership is the Lambhua Assembly seat in Sultanpur district. The Samajwadi leadership has changed four candidates so far, leaving its voters totally confounded.
The party first named Santosh Pandey as its candidate. His elder brother Anil Pandey raised a voice of protest and the party promptly decided to give the ticket to Anil Pandey. Santosh Pandey and his supporters again began lobbying within the party and the candidature of Santosh Pandey was restored.
For reasons not known, a week later, the party decided that Santosh Pandey was not a winning candidate and this time, it was a local lawyer Indu Prakash Misra who was named as the Lambhua candidate for the Samajwadi Party.
The local party unit, once again, rose in protest and this week, Mr Misra lost his ticket to one Surabhi Shukla, a local power centre who enjoyed considerable clout in the Mulayam Singh regime.