With Uttar Pradesh in the BJP's firm grip, the opposition has still not come to terms with its rout in the Assembly polls that catapulted Yogi Adityanath to power.
Ousted from Lucknow, the Samajwadi Party, which had its own share of woes before the election, is now seeing a war of words within, with rival camps locked in a bitter struggle for power.
While former Chief Minister and party President Akhilesh Yadav has indirectly hit out at his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, saying he knew well who was the "aasteen ke sanp" (back-stabber), the latter responded with words like "nadaan" and "ahankaari" (naive, arrogant).
SP, BSP Rocked by Infighting
Akhilesh Yadav has also expelled a party leader, Deepak Mishra, known to be a confidant of Shivpal Yadav. Mishra, in turn, accused the former Chief Minister and his aide Ram Gopal Yadav of humiliating party loyalists.
Mishra and others like him who are now out of the party fold have declared war on the Samajwadi Party leadership. They have accused some leaders of amassing wealth and acquiring luxury SUVs even as hardcore socialists still make do with two-wheelers.
The situation is no different in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) where party supremo Mayawati has expelled former confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui along with his son and BSP’s 'rising star' son Afzal.
The move has triggered a quake in the party, already hit by a mutiny of sorts among the rank and file.
Siddiqui made serious charges against the four-time Chief Minister, alleging that she used to seek large amounts of money from party workers and even once branded Muslims "traitors".
He also accused Mayawati of not allowing him to even attend the funeral of his daughter years back and asked him to manage her election instead.
The former minister has also released half-a-dozen damaging audio tapes that suggest that the Dalit leader was constantly demanding money from party cadres. Mayawati hit back in no time and called Siddiqui a “blackmailer” and an “extortionist” who had siphoned off a huge amount of party funds.
"He has the cheek to say he was a party loyalist. How can he be when he was secretly recording the conversations of the party president?" she asked.
Siddiqui alleged that Mayawati wanted to get a senior leader murdered and pledged to furnish "proof" for this soon.
Former BSP leader and now a minister in the Adityanath government, Swami Prasad Maurya, said the sins of the Dalit leader were catching up with her.
While there is no rebellion in the Congress ranks, district presidents are unhappy about the alliance it forged with the Samajwadi Party in the Assembly elections.
They accused the party high command of forcing the decision on them.
The Congress was the worst sufferer among the three parties in the Assembly elections.
With the opposition bogged down by ugly bickering, the BJP government is having a field day.
There have been caste conflicts, stray incidents of communal violence, cow vigilantes thrashing people and soaring crime. But there is hardly any opposition to take on the government as of now.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with IANS.)
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