Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is contesting the assembly election from Jaswantnagar on Samajwadi Party’s election symbol, is carrying out aggressive campaign, urging people to re-elect him with a record margin.
Jaswantnagar assembly constituency in Etawah district is the family bastion of the Yadav clan and Shivpal Yadav has won from this seat five times since 1996 polls.
Shivpal Yadav is the younger brother of the Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and is contesting the assembly poll after a truce with his nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Jaswantnagar goes to poll on February 20 in the third phase of the seven-phase UP assembly elections.
Campaigning for himself in different villages of his constituency, Shivpal Yadav urged voters to vote for him in large numbers so that he could win by a record margin.
Shivpal Yadav said he was getting a very enthusiastic response from the people and he was confident of his victory with a record margin. He said the villagers requested him for the construction of a drain and to help them get rid of stray animals damaging their crops.
The relationship between Shivpal Yadav and his nephew had turned sour in 2016 after Akhilesh Yadav sacked him from his cabinet. Akhilesh Yadav subsequently became the SP president in January 2017 and Shivpal formed his own party PSPL in April 2017. Samajwadi Party suffered a huge electoral setback in the 2017 assembly polls and its strength in the state assembly plummeted to 47 seats from 224 seats in 2012. The family feud that began in 2016-17 is attributed to be among the causes of the SP electoral debacle.
An old hand in politics, Shivpal Yadav, along with Mulayam Singh Yadav, is considered to have played an important role in strengthening the Samajwadi Party since its early days.