Sidelined Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav today announced formation of a Samajwadi Secular Morcha and said he would try to unite smaller parties under it.
Cracks appeared in the Samajwadi Party ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls after rebel party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav made the announcement to form a Samajwadi Secular Front challenging the leadership of SP Chief and his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.
Yadav took the decision after meeting his elder brother and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday. Both the brothers held a meeting for about an hour at Lohia trust. Shivpal claimed that ‘netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has endorsed his decision to form the new front. "Netaji has already given his go ahead and blessings. He will be heading the front," claimed he.
Reacting to the challenge thrown by his ‘rebel uncle’, the Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav said that “elections are round the corner and many such developments will take place.” He said that his focus is to defeat the BJP.
Shivpal, however, claimed that he has not resigned or left the Samajwadi Party but floated the new front to give a platform to those sidelined Samajwadis who are being ignored and feel suffocated in the party under the present leadership.
“Today even netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav), who founded the Samajwadi Party, feels ignored. No one pays him the respect he deserves for taking the party to this level. He is not called in any meetings. I am deeply hurt by his disrespect within party,” pointed Shivpal.
“We will also rope in support from smaller parties. Talks are already on with few,” said Shivpal without disclosing their names. Shivpal has met Cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, an ally of the BJP coalition in Uttar Pradesh, again on Tuesday. Earlier, he had met him in Varanasi a couple of months ago.
The new front is going to pose a serious threat to Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, particularly on Yadav-dominated Lok Sabha seats. Shivpal declared that the Samajwadi Secular Front will contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls with the support of like-minded parties in Uttar Pradesh.
The new front is likely to contest all eight Yadav-dominated Lok Sabha seats, except Mainpuri from where Mulayam Singh Yadav will contest. The front may also put up a candidate against Akhilesh Yadav in Kannauj.
With ‘rebel uncle’ floating the secular front, speculations of his joining the BJP also came to an end. The independent lawmaker Amar Singh had revealed on Tuesday that a meeting between Shivpal and a top BJP leader was organized but Shivpal did not turn to attend the meet.
“There is no question of me joining the BJP or any other party. I am a devoted Samajwadi and will continue to be one till the end to fight for the rights of poor dalits and backwards.
All disgruntled Samajwadi Party leaders and workers, who had left the party in the past, will be brought under the Samajwadi Secular Front. Formation of this front was on since the past over a year. Shivpal had announced to form it on July 6 2017. But at the last moment, it was called off after Mulayam Singh Yadav refused to be part of it.
By forming the front, Shivpal has now openly challenged the leadership of his nephew Akhilesh Yadav. Sources claimed that Amar Singh, who is in Lucknow for the past three days, was behind the sudden political development at the behest of the BJP. The strategy is to weaken Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, which has announced to have an alliance with the BSP and the RLD to form a ‘mahagathbandhan’ against the BJP. The Congress may also join the grand alliance.
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