Shivpal may float political party, MSY not amused
LUCKNOW: Shivpal Yadav, Samajwadi Party MLA from Jaswantnagar and estranged uncle of party president Akhilesh Yadav, is likely to float his own political party next month.
Last Wednesday, Shivpal had announced the formation of Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM) through which he intended to bring like-minded political outfits together. Shivpal had conceptualised SSM as a Front and not a political party.
An SP leader familiar with the developments said Shivpal had offered the post of national president of his proposed party to his elder brother and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav which he turned down.
Political circles in Lucknow are abuzz with the talks of developments in the Yadav family which seem to have ended the possibilities of any reconciliation between Shivpal and Akhilesh. The leader said a peace talk, held in the family last week, failed.
A youth leader close to Akhilesh said: “Will any peace talk be relevant if he (Shivpal), in his impatience, goes ahead and announces a Morcha? Now, we hear that he is going to float a political party.”
“Akhilesh ji is focusing on larger issues and preparation for 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He had even told the family that he would give a suitable position to Shivpal ji at an appropriate time. Still, he announced that his Morcha will contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP. What can we say?” he asked.
Shivpal was not available for comments as he was in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Last week on Friday, Shivpal announced that the Morcha would contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Two days after, he dropped ‘senior Samajwadi Party leader’ from his Facebook and Twitter accounts and called himself a ‘leader of Samajwadi Secular Morcha’ and member of UP legislature from Jaswant Nagar.
In the meantime, Mulayam maintained silence over Shivpal’s moves but showed affinity towards Akhilesh. A day after Shivpal announced the Morcha, Mulayam visited the SP headquarters in Lucknow and addressed the workers.
On the day when Shivpal announced he will contest 80 seats, Mulayam again visited the party office.
In October last year, Mulayam had congratulated Akhilesh on being re-elected the party president. When the SP-BSP combine won the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls, he appreciated Akhilesh’s move of forming an alliance with the BJP.
Mulayam was a vociferous critique of the SP-Congress alliance for 2017 UP assembly elections.
Prof SK Dwivedi, a political analyst and former head of the department of political science at Lucknow University, said: “It might not bring any major benefits to Shivpal but it will hurt Akhilesh and the SP-BSP alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be the clear beneficiary.” When Akhilesh was asked about Shivpal’s Morcha, he had said, “We have democracy in our family.”
AN SP LEADER FAMILIAR WITH DEVELOPMENTS SAID SHIVPAL HAD OFFERED THE POST OF NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF HIS PROPOSED PARTY TO MULAYAM SINGH YADAV WHICH HE TURNED DOWN