Mulayam talks unity, Shivpal defiant
Two days after disgruntled Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav floated the Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM), SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday called upon the cadre to unitedly strengthen the party and said “the party and the family are one”.
However within hours of the SP patriarch’s statement, Shivpal, in an act of open defiance of his brother Mulayam, said his morcha would contest all the 80 seats of the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Shivpal informed reporters about his election plan when he was at the house of a supporter named Islam in Darkawda village of Baraut area in Baghpat district.
Shivpal had earlier sworn on many occasions that he would always stand by his brother and heed to his advice.
Mulayam, who visited the party office on the second day in a row, said people should stop making speculations. “If the workers have any suggestions, they should say it bluntly to the party leaders. They should not gossip about each other. We, too, pay heed to workers’ suggestions and bring about improvements.”
Emphasising on his statement of unity in the family, Mulayam said: “We five brothers are together. Even if we live in different places we all do farming together. You all too should keep your families together. In my time, workers used to keep the party’s red cap in their pockets and whenever and wherever an event happened they used to drape those caps.”
Mulayam was at the party office to attend a condolence meeting on the demise of former Shikohabad SP MLA Jhaulal.
Shivpal said he had taken the decision to form the SSM as “senior leaders were being insulted and ignored in the Samajwadi Party since the past some time.”
He also made it clear that his morcha had nothing to do with Amar Singh or the BJP.
Soon after announcing the formation of his own political party, Shivpal started a tour of western UP. It is believed that he plans to build up his party organisation.
Shivpal later left for Budhana town of Muzaffarnagar district where he will address a public meeting.
LUCKNOW/MEERUT: