Moradabad:
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's smile in Kannauj is likely to fade when he hears of a dramatic shootout involving Samajwadi Party workers firing at each other today at a block committee meeting in Moradabad.
Mohammad Usman, the brother of an SP MLA, Haji Irfan, has been accused of opening fire at other Samajwadi Party leaders and workers at the meeting after a heated argument. Radhika Yadav, a block head, has alleged that Mr Usman fired at her husband, Rajesh Yadav, and was then injured, when Mr Yadav retaliated. Mrs Yadav said that three other SP workers were injured in the shootout.
Mohammad Usman, represents Haji Irfan at meetings in his constituency, Moradabad, is in hospital with a bullet injury in his leg. The three SP workers are also in hospital.
Mr Yadav was in Kannauj today with his wife Dimple, who filed nomination to contest the bye-elections to the Lok Sabha seat which her husband vacated after taking over as CM. She scored her husband a high eight on ten on governance.
But the behavior of rowdy Samajwadi Party workers, fast becoming Ahkilesh Yadav's biggest headache, could well be the hurdle that will keep him from a perfect 10. The 39-year-old won UP with a massive mandate primarily on an election promise that he would rid the state of "goonda raj." Part of his carefully-crafted electoral strategy was to project his party as one that had changed.
But ever since he took over less than three months ago, there have been many incidents such as today's, with gun-toting, trigger-happy members of his party putting him in a very awkward position. In March, a Block Development Officer (BDO) in Jhansi was shot at by a local Samajwadi Party worker; the SP workers had also threatened and intimidated journalists in Jhansi; they were forced to hide in a room in school building for two hours after one of the journalists questioned a candidate from Mr Yadav's party about his defeat in elections. Then in April, there were clashes between SP workers and Bahujan Samaj Party leaders in which one person was killed.
Opposition parties declared at the start of Akhilesh Yadav's innings as Chief Minister that they expected the alleged goonda elements in the Samajwadi Party to be the young leader's Achilles Heel.