More than his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, it is UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav who is working towards the formation of the third front for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. While Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has now restricted himself to Lucknow and Delhi, it is Akhilesh Yadav who is touring states that have a sizeable presence of the possible members of the third front.
“Akhilesh is young and energetic and can converse fluently with non-Hindi speaking leaders. Besides, he is also being groomed for a bigger role in national politics after the Lok Sabha elections. He is meeting non-Congress and non-BJP leaders on the directives of the party high command,” said a close aide of the chief minister who was present with him on his two day Andhra visit.
In Andhra Pradesh, Mr Akhilesh Yadav met a host of regional leaders, Mr Chandrababu Naidu of TDP being the most prominent among them.
Though Mr Akhilesh Yadav also paid a “courtesy visit” to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, it was with Mr Chandrababu Naidu that he had detailed discussions about the possibility of a third front emerging during the general elections. Significantly, Mr Yadav also met pro-Telegana groups during his Andhra Pradesh visit.
Mr Akhilesh Yadav, who shares a warm rapport with Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, is also likely to meet him next month. Another meeting with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik is also on the cards.
Last month, Mr Akhilesh Yadav had visited Karnataka where he reportedly asked the lone Samajwadi MLA C.P. Yogeshwar to remain in touch with non-Congress, non-BJP leaders who could support the third front concept. Earlier in April, Mr Akhilesh Yadav had visited Chennai where he had an hour long meeting with Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.
Mr Yadav has also visited Kolkata where he met West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee in September last year.
The main reason why Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav is pushing his son to the forefront of Third Front politics is his easy acceptability. As a party veteran puts it, “Akhilesh is young while most of the regional leaders are much older to him. He gives them respect and they tend to treat him like a son or a younger brother. He is good at breaking the ice and converses fluently with them. He is also very good at mending bridges.”