Lucknow: Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday threatened to part ways with his Samajwadi Party if it continued its alliance with the Congress or joined the proposed grand alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Mr Yadav said that the Samajwadi Party had lost the last Assembly elections only due to the alliance with the Congress, which proved to be a disaster for the party. Mr Yadav was talking to reporters at the residence of Ashu Malik, SP MLC in Ghaziabad on Wednesday.
He said that the Samajwadi Party had gained in strength since its inception in November 1992. “We contested the 2012 Assembly elections and attained majority and formed government on our own strength. SP would have repeated this performance in 2017 Assembly elections had we not forged alliance with the Congress,” he said.
The Samajwadi Party, which had 224 MLAs in 2012 was left with 47 MLAs in the 2017 Assembly elections. He pointed out that the party would do better if it goes alone in the next Parliament elections. Party sources feel that Mr Yadav’s threat is actually a prelude to his joining a new front that is likely to be floated by his younger brother Shivpal Yadav.
Mr Yadav’s relations with his son Akhilesh have been strained after the latter toppled his father to become the SP president.
Legislators who are known to be Mulayam loyalists have been quitting the Samajwadi Party claiming that there is no future for them in the party under the leadership of Mr Akhilesh Yadav.
