Shivpal says he will support Mulayam wherever he contests
VARANASI/GORAKHPUR: Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM) founder Shivpal Yadav on Saturday said the morcha will support Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav from wherever he contests the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The Morcha will field its candidates in the remaining seats, he said, talking to reporters in Azamgarh.
“We are making efforts to bring Netaji into the morcha. Wo jahan kahi se bhi chunav ladenge, morcha unka samarthan karega. (The morcha will support him from wherever he contests during general elections).”
Azamgarh is the Lok Sabha constituency of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Announcing that the morcha will field a strong candidate in Azamgarh, he said 45 parties, including smaller and bigger ones, were extending support to the Morcha. These parties together would announce a mahagathbandhan.
Earlier in the day, he said in Gorakhpur that Morcha had no plans to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We are secular people and we have always been against the Bharatiya Janata Party. We are secular samajwadis (socialists) and there is no question of joining the BJP,” he told reporters.
He was in Gorakhpur to attend the Parivartan Rally organised by the Bahujan Mukti Morcha, a regional Dalit outfit, at Champa Devi park.
Yadav launched his front on August 29, after being allegedly sidelined in the Samajwadi Party by his nephew and SP president Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal Yadav’s differences with his nephew and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav led to a rift in the SP ahead of the 2017 UP assembly election.
To a question, he made it clear that he had formed the SSM after pondering about it for a long time. “I took enough time to think about it. Now, we will not step back from the decision, which I took with the consent of netaji (his elder brother and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav). I always wanted to be united but they gave us nothing, except disrespect in the party,” he said without naming Akhilsh Yadav.
Asked if his party would support Mulayam Singh Yadav in his stronghold Mainpuri, Shivpal said he had already offered to have the SP patriarch contest the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat on his party (SSM) ticket and it was up to him to take the decision.
“We will extend support to netaji if he contests from Mainpuri,” he said.“But even if he contests from any other party, we will support him,” he said.
Shivpal Yadav declined to comment on the possibility of an alliance between the BSP and the SP, saying it was up to Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav.
HE SAID IN GORAKHPUR THE MORCHA HAD NO PLANS TO JOIN HANDS WITH THE BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP).