LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav triggered a fresh trail of ambiguity leaving the political circles of Lucknow confused on Tuesday when he first visited younger brother Shivpal at his new bungalow and from there drove down straight to son Akhilesh Yadav at SP headquarters where he exhorted the cadre to be prepared for crucial battle of ballots in 2019.
In a sudden development, the SP patriarch reached 6, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, the new bungalow allocated by the state government to rebel SP leader Shivpal Yadav who has formed his own party called Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) (PSP-L) recently.
Finding Mulayam amidst them, the PSPL workers started chanting slogans in his support and accorded him a warm welcome.
Without losing time, Shivpal, offered Mulayam the presidentship of his newly-structured party and handed over the party flag to him. Shivpal even urged Mulayam to fight 2019 Lok Sabha election on his party ticket from Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency.
Addressing the PSPL workers' meet, Shivpal urged his cadre to work for realising the unfulfilled dream of seeing Mulayam Singh Yadav as the Prime Minister of India.
"Netaji will always remain the face of PSPL and we will continue to work on the principles laid down by him," Shivpal said.
Accepting the honour and regard showered on him by younger brother, Mulayam chose to keep mum on Shivpal's offer but he addressed the PSPL workers and asked them to respect women, youth and farmers to be successful in politics.
Initially, the patriarch started off his speech by counting the accomplishments of Samajwadi Party but on being reminded by Shivpal that he was speaking on the forum of PSPL, Mulayam corrected himself through a cover up by claiming that SP's new name was PSPL.
This is the first time Mulayam visited the office of his younger brother's political party. Later, Mulayam drove to SP office in a gesture to convey that he was on his son's side as well. He addressed the SP workers exhorting them to be prepared for the crucial 2019 battle. He asked them to strengthen the booths to win the elections.
However, the political observers feel that Mulayam's Tueday venture was a well thought-out strategy to keep the doors for an Akhilesh-Shivpal patch up open till the last moment. They view it as another ploy being used by the seasoned politician to make a last ditch effort to bring both together again. However, many in the political circles believe that the SP patriarch will continue to keep such suspense till 2019 and that he is creating the confusion purposefully.
Shivpal had said his front would contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh barring the seat from where Mulayam Singh Yadav will contest the upcoming 2019 elections.