LUCKNOW: With an eye on 2022 UP polls, the Samajwadi Party has started getting its act together and the first evident step is apparently the unification of the first family.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who has been at loggers head with uncle Shivpal Yadav since 2016, has now hinted at some poll adjustment with him for the next UP polls.
The signs of a thaw started emerging on the political horizon when Samajwadi Party moved to withdraw the application seeking disqualification of Shivpal as party MLA recently. However, UP Assembly speaker, Hriday Narain Dixit accepted the SP plea to withdraw its earlier letter on Thursday. After the Speaker’s move, SP chief has now dropped broad hints of a possible truce with his estranged uncle.
Akhilesh claimed that the party may make an “adjustment” with Shivpal in Jaswantnagar seat from where the latter is a sitting MLA.
Notably, Shivpal parted ways with Samajwadi Party after being humiliated by Akhilesh and floated Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) in October 2018. He had served a major dent to Yadav vote bank in 2019 Lok Sabha elections by fielding his candidates against SP which included a number of family members.
Shivpal himself had contested from Firozabad against nephew Akshay Yadav who was the sitting MP. Shivpal’s presence divided Yadav votes and Akshay had to bite the dust.
It may be noted that Samajwadi Party had moved the disqualification petition against Shivpal shortly after the Lok Sabha polls on grounds that he had abandoned the SP and launched his own party. After the Speaker allowed SP to withdraw the petition on Thursday, Shivpal welcomed the move.
However, spelling out the party’s strategy for the 2022 battle, Akhilesh claimed that the Samajwadi Party would not join hands with any major political party. He said that he might join hands with a number of smaller outfits at the local level but would not enter in any alliance.
When asked during a webinar if he would take Shivpal back into the party folds, Akhilesh said that as he was heading a separate outfit, and an adjustment could be struck with him on Jaswantnagar seat.
Talking to media persons over the withdrawal of the anti-defection petition, leader of the opposition in the state assembly and SP veteran Ram Govind Chaudhary said Shivpal was a member of the SP legislature party as on date. He refused to comment on reports of his return to the party fold.