New Delhi: Jittery over the successive political coups in Shiv Sena and NCP, which ended with the Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar factions gaining control of their parent parties and symbols, regional satraps like Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee have sought to close ranks to tighten their grip and contain the emergence of alternative power centers within their respective parties.
While BSP chief Mayawati expelled her nephew Akash Anand from the party, Mamata Banerjee in the past month reaffirmed her position as the supreme commander of the Trinamool Congress vis a vis her nephew and heir apparent, Abhishek Banerjee.
Unlike Mamata, who is controlling the organisation from a position of strength as the chief minister, Mayawati's maneuvering space has considerably shrunk following BSP's successive defeats in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls since 2012.
For the current turmoil in the party, Mayawati has accused former MP and close aide Ashok Sidharth, whose daughter Pragya is married to Akash. The immediate trigger, BSP insiders say, was the wedding of Sidharth's son in Agra in the first week of February, which was attended by influential second-rung leaders in the party. This did not sit well with the BSP chief.
BJP-DMK clash over NEP: A high-stakes language battle"For BSP at this stage, the party represents its physical structure, offices, trusts and other assets registered under the parent outfit and its affiliates. Control over these is something no one would want to take any risk," says a former BSP minister in UP, who isn't surprised by Mayawati's action against her nephew, widely seen as her successor.
As with the case of NCP and Shiv Sena, while adjudicating on splits and defections in political parties, courts and constitutional bodies have of late relied on the Election Commission's order in the Samajwadi Party's bitter succession battle between former CM Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh. The benchmark set by the EC for allocating party names and symbols to any faction is their ability to demonstrate a majority both in the legislative Assembly and within the party organisation.
In BSP's case, the party which once commanded over 30% of the vote share in UP is now limited to just one MLA in the state Assembly and a lone Rajya Sabha member in Parliament.
In West Bengal, the nabin vs prabin (old guard vs the youth) tension has been brewing for a while. Mamata loyalists have opposed the growing influence of I-PAC, a poll consultancy that was seen to be working in close coordination with Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek.
Last month, senior Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra accused I-PAC of "starting a culture of buying posts within the party," a statement which he later withdrew.
The whisper campaign within the Trinamool reached a crescendo last week, when Abhishek had to clarify at a party meeting in Kolkata that, "canards are being spread that Abhishek Banerjee will join the BJP. Even with a severed head, I will say Mamata Banerjee Zindabad."
In neighbouring Jharkhand, ahead of the Assembly polls, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) faced rebellion after Hemant Soren was granted bail in an ED case.
A section of the party, including Sita Soren, Hemant's sister-in-law who later joined the BJP, threw in the challenge. However, with wife Kalpana Soren by his side, Soren was successful in asserting his authority and quelling any succession war.