Shivpal Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party MLA and president of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), gave a clear indication of his future course of political action by following Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and former Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma on Twitter.

With the latest additions, Yadav now follows 12 Twitter handles, which include the Dalai Lama, the President of India, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office.

The latest development is seen as yet another step of the PSPL chief in quitting the opposition alliance and crossing over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Soon after this action on social media, PSPL spokesman Deepak Mishra defended his leader saying, “There is no contradiction between nationalism and socialism and they complement each other.”

Earlier this week, on Wednesday, Shivpal Yadav had met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The meeting was significant as it was against the backdrop of Shivpal Yadav criticising Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for not inviting him to the meeting of the SP MLAs in which Akhilesh Yadav was elected as the party leader in UP assembly on March 26

Sources in the SP said Akhilesh Yadav was making no efforts to placate his estranged uncle. 

“After taking over as party president in January 2017, he (Akhilesh) has successfully dismantled all power centres within the party and he will never oblige his uncle Shivpal Yadav to emerge as a new power centre in the party,” said a senior SP leader.

He added, “If Shivpal Yadav wants to be a part of the SP-led alliance then he will have to abide by the terms and conditions set by Akhilesh Yadav otherwise he is free to chart a course of action of his choice.”

SP sources said, “Shivpal Yadav knows that time is running out for him and he is no longer in a position to do hard bargaining with the BJP and he will have to settle with the terms offered by the BJP.”

The sources said Shivpal Yadav was anxious for the political future of his son, Aditya Yadav, who was denied ticket by Akhilesh Yadav in the recent UP assembly elections.

The rift between Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav has been widening ever since the former was not invited to the meeting of the newly-elected MLAs of SP on March 26.

PSPL chief Shivpal Yadav had contested the recent assembly poll on the ‘bicycle’ symbol of the SP. He had skipped the opposition alliance’s Monday meeting called by Akhilesh Yadav and also "delayed" taking oath as a member of the new assembly, indicating that all is not well between the uncle and nephew duo.

Besides Shivpal Yadav, the alliance’s other key leader Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (Kamerwadi), who humbled Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in Sirathu constituency, had also not attended the meeting of the SP-led coalition partners on March 28.

Shivpal Yadav took oath on Wednesday in the chamber of Speaker Satish Mahana.

Speculations are rife in political corridors that as part of the plan, the BJP might send Shivpal Yadav to Rajya Sabha and his son, Aditya Yadav, may contest the by-election from Jaswantnagar assembly seat to be vacated by his father.

Eleven Rajya Sabha seats from UP would be falling vacant between April and July. Shivpal Yadav himself has not been speaking much. On Wednesday, he had told media persons that he would reveal his future course of action at an appropriate time.

After remaining at loggerheads since 2017, Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav had decided to mend fences just before the recent state assembly elections. Their estrangement had resulted in Shivpal Yadav launching his own party, PSPL, before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In the just-concluded assembly polls, the uncle-nephew had put up a united front, appearing together at the residence of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on election eve.

Shivpal himself won from Jaswantnagar assembly constituency for the sixth time.