Akhilesh reaches out to Beni as Shivpal firms up his morcha

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav appears to have begun to woo the party’s old guard and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s long-standing associates after the emergence of the Samajwadi Secular Morcha floated by his uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Akhilesh called on party’s Rajya Sabha MP Beni Prasad Verma at Verma’s residence on Sunday and the two talked for over an hour.

Since becoming president of the party, Akhilesh Yadav had largely focused on his original camp members who had been closely associated with him during the family feud.

Verma, a prominent Kurmi leader, had once quit the party and floated his own organization. He contested the 2007 UP assembly polls against the then ruling SP.

Verma had joined the Congress and served as the union minister of steel till the Congress-led UPA government lost power in 2014. In 2016, Beni rejoined SP. A source in the Verma camp said the two leaders met and talked for over an hour,

discussing the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Verma reportedly also asked as to he would counter Shivpal’s morcha, and would he still be open to the idea of reconciliation with the uncle. Yadav evaded the question on Shivpal.

Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal were locked in a bitter family feud over control of the party just ahead of the 2017 UP assembly election. Akhilesh had won the fight by getting himself installed as the party’s national president in January 2017.

At the meeting, Akhilesh told Verma the developments regarding the alliance with the BSP and exuded confidence about a tie-up. Verma had been keeping away from SP events and meetings. Before this, Akhilesh had called on Verma when he turned 77 on February 12.