Akhilesh Yadav likely to join hands with uncle to take on BJP

LUCKNOW: Four years after Shivpal Singh Yadav, younger brother of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, severed ties with his nephew Akhilesh Yadav, the party chief, it seems, is set to join hands with his uncle along with smaller parties to contest the UP Assembly polls scheduled for next year.  

Shivpal, on September 28, 2018, had announced his new political party Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party after falling out with Akhilesh. Shivpal had complained that he felt neglected in the SP, which was founded by his elder brother Mulayam, after his nephew took charge. On Thursday, Akhilesh has ruled out any alliance with any major political party in the 2022 Assembly polls and has openly said his party will go with smaller parties.

“As per the aspirations of our workers, we’ll not have any alliance with any major/big parties, but will certainly have tie-ups with small parties. Chacha se bhi baat karenge (I’ll talk to uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav also) while partnering with smaller parties,” the SP supremo and ex-UP CM said on his birthday on Thursday.

The announcement raised the possibility of patch up with his uncle. Recently, there have been unconfirmed reports of the melting of ice between the uncle and nephew  and the recent pictures of them together at a family wedding are a key indicator of that possibility, even as Shivpal had publicly said that he would work only on building an alliance of smaller parties, including AIMIM, to fight out the ruling BJP.

The unopposed election of the SP candidate for the post of chairperson of district panchayat in Etawah could only happen due to uncle Shivpal’s tacit support to his nephew led to party’s candidate. 

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