The Role of ‘Choti Bahu’ in Samajwadi Party’s Leadership Feud

While political pundits debate over whether the political controversy in UP is a result of Akhilesh Yadav’s coming of age and outsmarting his aging father, or is an entirely scripted affair created to take the focus off the real and pressing issues in the state, new angles to the family feud are being brought out into the limelight.

Akhilesh’s supporters allege the interference and influence of Mulayam Singh’s second wife Sadhna Gupta, the step-mother of Akhilesh Yadav to be a thorn in the flesh of party affairs.

A bitter power tussle is evident between Mulayam Singh’s brother Shivpal Yadav who is supposedly on the side of Sadhna Gupta and her daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Mulayam Singh had named 26-year-old Aparna Yadav as the Samajwadi Party’s candidate from Lucknow Cantonment about a year ago. Akhilesh’s rebel list of Samajwadi Party 235 nominees for the upcoming elections conspicuously has no nominee from the Lucknow Cantonment.

Aparna Yadav is the wife of Mulayam Singh’s second son Pratheek. She has reportedly been harbouring ambitions of displacing Akhilesh, not only as the young face of Samajwadi Party but perhaps even as chief minister someday.

Her entry into politics however would not be as easy as Akhilesh’s wife Dimple and this has been another bone of contention for her.

Aparna is having to labour hard for the Lucknow Cantonment seat which the Samajwadi party has never won and is currently held by Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Her husband Prateek, 28, runs a fitness business and is not very active politically, but the Akhilesh camp alleges that he too has played a role in the growing divide between his father and older brother.

Added to that Aparna Yadav has not been secretive about her support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

Apart from being a vocal supporter of BJP’s programs, Aparna and her husband Prateek took a selfie with Modi at Mulayam Singh Yadav's grandson's wedding in Mainpuri in 2015.