LUCKNOW: While Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has been observing a guarded silence over the secular front launched by younger brother and senior SP leader Shivpal, all his back-channel efforts to pacify sulking sibling have come cropper as Shivpal has refused to budge ruling out any possibility of a rapprochement with nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
In a bid to give strength to his decision, Shivpal, who had changed his twitter profile details a couple of days after floating Morcha to replace Samajwadi Party with Samajwadi Secular Morcha, went a step further ahead on Tuesday and unfollowed SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party on Twitter.
He even removed the SP flag from his SUV and his residence thus dropping hints at the increasing gap between him and the Sp leadership. Disgruntled Shivpal claimed that he floated the secular Morcha only after waiting for over a year for his rehabilitation.
"I never vied for a post in the party but at least I should have given a responsibility. After all, I have given my sweat and blood to nurture the party to this stature," Shivpal said.
His main refrain was that he was insulted on every possible forum in the party and even Mulayam was disrespected and neglected by Akhilesh."I made all efforts to keep the family and the party united. Now I have taken a step and floated the Secular Morcha. There is no question of stepping back or any compromise with Akhilesh," he maintained.
Shivpal had floated the new front on last Wednesday. However, Shivpal's step smacks of an element incertitude. Though he hinted in no uncertain terms that he was practically ending his political association with the Samajwadi Party and had claimed that his Morcha had support and blessing of 'Netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav), SP patriarch, on the contrary, made a feverish call for unity in the party and went to SP headquarters in Akhilesh's absence to meet the cadre thus conveying his backing to son Akhilesh.
When asked to react to the Secular Morcha launched by Shivpal, Mulayam claimed that they all were united and very much in Samjawadi Party. Meanwhile, Shivpal approach has been equally intriguing.
He is still a party MLA from Jaswantnagar and has not quit Samajwadi Party. Even SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has not taken any action against his uncle for his actions. Notably, Shivpal, after floating the Morcha, has been openly claiming at various platforms that the Samajwadi Party under the new leadership had digressed from the ideals it was established on.
In fact, Shivpal had made his intentions of not returning to SP clear by announcing that his Morcha would contest all the 80 seats in the state in upcoming Lok Sabha elections and all 403 seats in 2022 Assembly elections as separate entity.
When his attention was drawn towards Akhilesh Yadav not taking him seriously, Shivpal reacted that "he was politically mature not to react but time will give a befitting reply."He denied having met any BJP leaders claiming that such offers kept coming to leaders like him who had a mass following. "I am with secular forces and will never shake hands with communal forces," he said.