Akhilesh Lucknow, Jan. 18: Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has not just earned himself an image boost, pre-election momentum and a key alliance through his smart handling of the intra-party strife, his supporters and rivals believe the crisis itself has brought him big gains. So much so that Pathak accused Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav of "scripting" the purported power struggle with his son. "Mulayam seems to have succeeded in getting these issues (against Akhilesh) to evaporate with the help of his scripted family drama," Pathak told The Telegraph. A Samajwadi source agreed that the crisis may have helped Akhilesh. As Akhilesh hunkered down to weather the storm, the Opposition taunted the Samajwadis with having "four-and-a-half chief ministers" - Mulayam, Shivpal, Ram Gopal and minister Azam Khan plus an allegedly powerless Akhilesh as "half a chief minister".

Source: The Telegraph January 18, 2017 22:23 UTC