"Akhilesh Yadav talks about development and he thinks about the youth. He is also trying to rein in the criminal elements in the Samajwadi Party. In the 2017 elections, he will be needed to appeal to the youth vote", Dharmendra Singh, a 28 year old from Varanasi told News18.
"Akhilesh Yadav has implemented some good schemes, but he is hostage to the whims of his father and uncles", Saurabh, a 32 year old from Meerut told News18.
The above comments highlight why it may be important for the old guard of the Samajwadi Party – the Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav combine – to not alienate Akhilesh before the crucial 2017 elections: He may be vital for attracting the youth and aspirational votes.
Meerut and Varanasi lie on opposite ends of Uttar Pradesh. Yet, these views from diametrical ends of India's largest state show that Akhilesh Yadav's stress on development appeals to the youth while the older Yadavs' politics of caste doesn't resonate with the younger generation.
It is this difference in the political styles of the father and son that the party will have to resolve, if it has to have any chance of having a decent showing in the 2017 assembly elections. It may also be Akhilesh's trump card.
"Akhilesh Yadav represents a new style of politics, much like Kejriwal did and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 general elections", Sudheer Panwar, who teaches political science in Lucknow University said.
"His style appeals more to development than to caste politics and is vital to pull in the youth vote and sections who are not traditional Samajwadi Party voters", he added.
Akhilesh's alleged refusal to accept the presence of Amar Singh, Shivpal Yadav et al in the Samajwadi Party is a part of a style of politics that shuns traditional caste networks in favour of a development oriented strategy, analysts said.
At present 70% of the party's MLA's back Akhilesh, Panwar said.
"Akhilesh wants to remove the criminal elements from the party and if they do something wrong he scolds them", Dharmendra Singh added, saying that if he had to vote for the Samajwadi Party in 2017 it would be on the basis of whether Akhilesh Yadav was in the party.
However, Mulayam Singh Yadav cannot be ruled out yet because he has strong grassroots support, Badri Narayan, a political analyst teaching in Jawaharlal Nehru University said. "However, his health may prevent him from campaigning effectively", he added.
The intra-party war in the Samajwadi Party is also a generational battle, and unless the party can reconcile its past style, which was reliant on patronage networks and caste politics, with the future, which is aspiration driven, it won' be able to resolve the bad blood.
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