LUCKNOW: In a major development, the first family of the Samajwadi Party has united once again ahead of the crucial electoral battle of 2022.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday visited his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav at the latter’s residence in Lucknow and announced an alliance with his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party–Lohia (PSP-L).
The announcement of the alliance signals the end of the five-year-old battle of one-upmanship in the Samajwadi Party and the differences in the first family of the Samajwadi Party. However, putting all the differences behind it, the SP chief reached Shivpal’s residence on Thursday evening and held a closed-door meeting, which lasted for about 40 minutes, with him. As per sources, apart from Shivpal and Akhilesh, the former’s son, Aditya Yadav, was also present at the crucial meeting.
Following After the meeting, Akhilesh took to Twitter to announce the alliance between SP and PSPL. “Met the PSPL chief and confirmed our alliance. The strategy of alliance with smaller parties is strengthening SP and is taking SP along with alliance parties towards a historic win,” posted Akhilesh. The decision of seat-sharing, however, has not yet been announced by either of the leaders.
The SP chief has been claiming that his party is aligning with smaller parties as part of the strategy to trounce the BJP in the 2022 assembly polls. H had made it clear that SP would have a tie-up with PSP-L as well giving due respect to Shivpal.
All eyes will now be on the seat-sharing arrangement between the two as Shivpal had been pitching for around 50 seats to contest. Sources suggest that Shivpal might leave his assembly seat, Jaswant Nagar, for his son and he may contest from some other seat.
It may be recalled that Akhilesh and Shivpal Yadav had been obliquely opposing each other since 2016 and their differences reached a crescendo when Akhilesh deposed his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and became party president in a coup of sorts on January 1, 2017. Akhilesh had even removed his uncle Shivpal from the post of SP state president and had also stripped him of the cabinet rank which he was holding in Akhilesh ministry then.
Following the humiliation at the hands of his nephew, Shivpal floated his own Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia in September 2018 Shivpal, fought the 2019 general election on his party’s symbol. He might have failed to leave a mark in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but handed out a major dent to his parent organization at various places. In Firozabad, Shivapl challenged Akshay
Yadav, son of his cousin Dr Ram Gopal Yadav and divided the votes helping the BJP candidate to win the seat. Akshay was the sitting MP from that seat.
Moreover, the political pundits feel that Akhilesh faced a crushing defeat in the 2017 assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections owing to the intense feud within the Yadav clan. The SP supporters were unhappy with the way Akhilesh grabbed the post of party president removing father Mulayam Singh Yadav and publicly humiliating Shivpal.
However, earlier in November, this year, Shivpal Yadav said that his party was ready for an alliance with the SP to stop the BJP from winning, but insisted that Akhilesh Yadav accepted his conditions for the pact.
As per the highly placed sources, Shivpal had previously asked for 100 seats from SP for the alliance. “We want unity as it has power. Our priority is to form an alliance with the SP. There is little time (left for the elections). Whatever decision has to be taken should be taken soon. I am saying for the past two years that elections should be contested unitedly,” Shivpal had said recently while interacting with media persons.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav, too, had expressed his willingness to forget the clashes with the tie-up with uncle.