Uttar Pradesh: UP CM Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle says he will form a new party and will campaign for those who have not been given a ticket by Akhilesh. “Many strong SP candidates have not been given a ticket,” he says. “I had requested Akhilesh to let Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) remain the party chief, but both Netaji and I were targetted by Akhilesh.”
Shivpal said he will form the new party on March 11. UP goes to the polls in seven phases beginning February 11 and ending March 8. Shivpal, who filed his nomination from Jaswantnagar, said he is contesting the polls on the Samajwadi Party’s ticket.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has made it clear that he disapproves of the alliance between the SP’s Akhilesh Yadav-led faction and the Congress party and categorically stated that he would not campaign in Uttar Pradesh.
When asked to comment on Mulayam’s statement, Shivpal responded, “I am with Netaji.”
Earlier on January 29, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav in their maiden outing in Lucknow hugged and shook hands besides donning colour coordinated jackets.
Gandhi dominated the interaction comparing the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and Congress with the confluence of the rivers of Ganga and Yamuna that join at ‘sangam’ to form the river Saraswati.
