SP SPLITS, SHIVPAL TO FORM PARTY WITH MULAYAM AS CHIEF
The ongoing feud in the Samajwadi Party’s ruling Yadav family resurfaced with a disgruntled Shivpal Yadav declaring he will form a new outfit “Samajwadi Secular Morcha” with elder brother Mulayam Singh at its helm — a move to question the authority of party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Shivpal was locked in a bitter power struggle with nephew Akhilesh before the recent Assembly polls. Though Shivpal was pacified by Mulayam, the warring uncle of Akhilesh renewed efforts to target him after the party suffered a humiliating loss at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Fissure in the Samajwadi Party (SP) has resurfaced with senior leader Shivpal Yadav declaring that elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav would head a secular front to be formed by him.
Shivpal, who retained the Jaswantnagar seat in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll, had given an ultimatum that a secular front would be formed if former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not hand over the reins of the party to his father Mulayam back in three months.
“For social justice, the ‘Samajwadi Secular Morcha’ will be formed and Netaji (Mulayam) will be its national president,” he told reporters in Etawah, bastion of the family. The warring uncle of Akhilesh made the announcement after a meeting with the SP patriarch.
Within hours of the announcement, Akhilesh said he came to know about it via the media. “If such a front is formed, it is good for the country,” he added.
Shivpal did not explain what the new front’s future course of action would be — whether it would contest elections against the SP or bring socialists under one roof.
He said he had been mulling a campaign to bring ‘samajwadis’ (socialists) on one platform.
“Akhilesh had promised to hand over the party’s reins to Netaji. He should do that now and all of us will strengthen the party. I had given him three months. If he fails to hand over the charge, I will form a new secular front,” he had said.
The party had witnessed a bitter feud between uncle Shivpal and nephew Akhilesh in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Shivpal had earlier replaced Akhilesh as the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief following which Akhilesh, then the CM, had removed Shivpal from his Cabinet. Many in the party had blamed the power struggle between Akhilesh and Shivpal as the reason behind the party’s dismal performance in the election.
Mulayam had earlier blamed Akhilesh for the party’s performance and said his son had insulted him.
Shivpal had indicated the Yadav family could be united if Akhilesh resigned from his post accepting moral responsibility for the party’s election debacle.
But, Akhilesh’s confidant Ram Gopal Yadav had said Shivpal should read the party’s constitution before seeking the resignation.