The verdict will be out soon and there will be intense discussions on who has emerged the real leader: Rahul Gandhi or Akhilesh Yadav. Both did their best, but there is a striking difference.
The Samajwadi Party has a loyal youth cadre and it just needed someone to motivate it. Akhilesh seems to have succeeded in doing that. Rahul, on the other hand, wanted to motivate and tried hard. But there was no loyal cadre.
Akhilesh had another advantage — the image of a local boy, and people loved that. When people call him
Akhilesh also enjoys acceptability in Uttar Pradesh as a whole. But Rahul is widely seen as a leader for Amethi and Rai Barelly. The local, earthy and personal touch is not part of his repertoire while giving speeches. The result, people did clap during his speeches, but as if on cue.
But is Akhilesh going to be successful only because of Rahul's poor efforts? No, Akhilesh also has the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party to thank.
Dalit factor
The Dalits seemed really dissatisfied. They had thought Mayawati would help them get jobs or set up some livelihood. Not only did this not happen in the measure expected, many Dalits say things became worse.
In some ways, the BJP's confusion about who its leader is may also have helped Akhilesh.
Some other Congress leaders may also help Akhilesh get more seats by their ill-conceived statements. When these leaders started saying the Congress would not support the Samajwadi Party, the latter strengthened its position.
The bottomline: Rahul had the opportunity to establish himself as a mass leader of Uttar Pradesh while Akhilesh had to consolidate it. Akhilesh planned and worked hard.
Rahul had to build a cadre and then motivate it. Here, he seems to have lost out.