Shivpal calls Akhilesh’s one-seat offer a joke
LUCKNOW: Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief Shivpal Yadav on Thursday called the “one-seat adjustment” statement by Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav “a joke”.
He said his party was looking for “a handful of winnable” seats for the PSP-L to enter into any prospective alliance.
At a press conference, Shivpal said he would launch his party’s 2022 assembly poll campaign with a rally in Meerut on December 21. From December 24 onwards, the party would launch a statewide village-level contact programme over farmers’ issues, he said.
The day before Diwali, Akhilesh Yadav had said at a press conference in Saifai, Etawah that his party would make an adjustment and leave Shivpal’s Jaswant Nagar seat. It would also make him a cabinet minister when the SP returned to power in the state, Akhilesh had said. Shivpal is the sitting Jaswant Nagar MLA.
In response, Shivpal on Thursday said, “The one-seat offer is a joke. So far as the idea of being cabinet minister, I have been a cabinet minister several times. So, it’s not a big deal. What we are looking for is a handful of winnable seats.”
He reiterated that all socialist parties must come on a single platform if they wished to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shivpal Yadav, an uncle of
Akhilesh, also said, “Through various ways, and over a hundred times, I have said that various socialist forces must unite, giving respectable place to each one of them. So far as the Samajwadi Party (SP) is concerned, it has not given any positive indications to the overtures and so far, I could not have any dialogue with the SP leadership. It is unfortunate that despite the best of intentions, things are not moving forward.”
He said that his party would not merge with any party and he would not take up a movement to strengthen the party.
After the Meerut rally, the party would launch a march on December 24 aimed at reaching every village and the campaign would go on for six months. He said he was also a getting a “rath” (motorised chariot) for his campaign that would be ready soon.
Attacking the BJP government, he said that it had failed on all fronts.