He was the saviour of UPA-Part I and the toast of the Manmohan Singh led government when the Communists had pulled the rug following the signing of the Nuclear Deal between US and India. Egged on by confidante Amar Singh, he enjoyed envious attention and access very few politicians in the country could boast of.
A year down the line, a lot seems to have changed in Luteyns Delhi. Former UP chief minister and Yadav chieftain.

suddenly found himself marginalised and at the fringes of national politics. Having been booted out of power by an on-rampage Elephant (read Mayawati’s BSP) from the state two years back, Neta ji, as he is fondly called by followers and supporters, had decided to shift base to New Delhi and instead focus on national politics.

Subsequent developments following Left Parties withdrawal of support ensured that Mulayam’s shifting base was a wild card he had played well. Tottering on the brink of collapse Congress befriended him conveniently. The CBI was probing the disproportianate assets case and MSY could hardly antagonise the dispensation at Delhi. Marriage of convenience made strange sleeping partners.
Failed bid to seal a deal for the Lok Sabha 2009 elections and the subsequent rise of the Congress to No 2 position in the state, though his Samajwadi Party, remained the number one in terms of vote share and number of seats, triggered off a chain of events that was little in control of Mulayam Singh and the ‘king maker’ faded into oblivion with his 24 LS members as UPA formed a government on its own.

Playing the secular card, Yadav held on to centrestage and supported the UPA “unconditionally” but the two parties seem to be behaving more as opponents than like those sitting on one side. Mulayam Singh Yadav during various debates, ranging from gas supply to Anil Ambani’s company to the Sharm-el-Sheikh agreement, has rapped the knuckles of the Manmohan Singh government. There is a predicament that the Yadav leader faces: he needs the Congress to stave off CBI cases and to keep Mayawati on leash but he cannot allow the main opposition space in UP to be encroached by the Congress.
But the Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s comments on Mayawati and the keen interest of Rahul gandhi in UP has ensured just that. In many areas of Uttar Pradesh Congress revival is almost visible and it is being seen by many as a ray of hope, as a party which might eventually reign in the elephant (BSP). The party under Rahul is already busy chalking out an action plan and road map for the 2012 elections. Bundelkhand and its development ahs already been an area of fcus for the Gandhi clan.

Pradeep Jain, a local leader has already been roped as a minister of state in UPA and the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to expose the state government and its “ill doings”. Power, law and order, drought, squandering of public money on statues and parks - Congress is leading the protests all over. Mulayam, post LS polls, had appointed his son Akhilesh Yadav as the state unit president in a bid to spruce up the party organization.

This move has paid very little dividends. With a resurgent Congress in UP and the “not required” stance of the UPA at the centre, Mulayam Singh Yadav, a one-time wrestler is indeed caught between the Devil and the Deep Sea!