Akhilesh beyond Yadavs: How he made a comeback

A rarely remembered contribution to denting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s seats tally in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in May 2004 and the formation of a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre was that of the late Mulayam Singh Yadav.

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Two decades later, with the Samajwadi Party (SP) likely to get more seats than the BJP in India's most populous state, his son and political successor, Akhilesh Yadav, has accomplished a similar feat and stalled the BJP's march to a third successive full majority government at the Centre.

Two decades ago, Mulayam stitched a patchwork of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and canvassed indefatigably across UP, which had the SP's Mandal defeat the BJP's Kamandal. The BJP won a mere 10 out of UP's 80 seats, and managed 138 nationwide, seven short of the Congress' 145.