Shivpal Yadav will float front, Mulayam to be its chief

Lucknow: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav announced on Friday that he would soon float a new “Samajwadi Secular Morcha” with party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav as its head.

The move opens a new front in their bruising power struggle with Akhilesh Yadav that continues even after they suffered a crushing defeat in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Akhilesh Yadav did not directly address the issue but said, “We politicians know the art of recognising aasteen ke saanp (back-stabbers).”

The announcement comes a day after Mulayam Singh Yadav said that sycophants and arrogance were responsible for the defeat.

Ahead of the polls, then CM Akhilesh Yadav had replaced his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, as the national SP president and sacked his uncle, Shivpal Yadav, as the state chief of the party, but could not retain power. Both camps blame each other for the party’s defeat.

Shivpal Yadav told reporters in UP’s Etawah on Friday that he was approaching all former Samajwadi leaders and also those who had left the party in recent months.

This is a second jolt to Akhilesh Yadav in a week. Five days ago, the Congress had parted ways with the SP ahead of the UP municipal elections.

The formation of “Samajwadi Secular Morcha” will also be a setback to efforts being made by the Opposition parties at the national level to form a joint front against the BJP because Mulayam Singh Yadav will never agree to an alliance with either the Congress or the BSP..

Mulayam Singh did not take any questions. But Shivpal Yadav said that the proposed front would take on communal forces and implement the concept of social justice under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Sources close to Shivpal Yadav said that the Lok Dal, led by Sunil Singh, would offer its platform to Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Lok Dal is a registered party and Sunil Singh, during the elections, had given tickets to rebel SP leaders.