The day Samajwadi Party scored an emphatic win in Mainpuri by-election, Shivpal Singh Yadav merged his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) with Akhilesh Yadav's SP, indicating that both the parties will contest the next Lok Sabha elections together.
“We have merged Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) with Samajwadi Party. In 2024, we will fight the elections together. From today, there will be a Samajwadi Party flag (on my car),” Shivpal Yadav said in Saifai.
Taking to their official Twitter handle, the SP also shared a picture of the pair of uncle Shivpal Yadav-nephew Akhilesh Yadav holding a Samajwadi Party flag, indicating their merger.
The indications of thaw between chacha and bhatija were palpable when Akhilesh met Shivpal Yadav at his residence after declaring Dimple Yadav as the party's candidate from Saifai. The election to Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat was necessitated following the death of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Shivpal was also present when Dimple Yadav filed her nomination papers and ahead of the Mainpuri bypoll, Shivpal Yadav had promised his support to SP and asked his party workers to ensure Dimple Yadav's victory in the election
After the victory of Dimple Yadav, Shivpal wrote in a tweet in Hindi, which roughly says: "Gratitude to well-wishers, friends and hardworking workers for their blessings, love and immense public support received from the voters of Mainpuri parliamentary constituency. Heartfelt thanks to the residents of Jaswantnagar for the blessings given to Dimple Yadav."
Shivpal Yadav had formed the PSPL in 2018, two years after his rift with nephew Akhilesh. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election separately but joined hands with SP as an ally for the 2022 assembly polls. After the election, chacha rued his decision to contest on SP ticket and said he made a political blunder by joining hands with Akhilesh.
After the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav in October, the family made efforts to bring the two leaders closer and finally succeeded. Gripped with grief, they were also seen jointly paying respects to Mulayam Singh Yadav, fondly called "Netaji".
Shivpal had also extensively campaigned for Dimple after her candidature was announced for the constituency. This had also brought attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party, especially Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who called Shivpal a "pendulum", suggesting that he had been swinging sides.
Downgrading of Shivpal's security had also triggered a retort by Akhilesh Yadav against the BJP and the Yogi Adityanath government.
The BJP fielded former Shivpal aide Raghuraj Singh Shakya against Dimple Yadav, and Shivpal Yadav criticised him for challenging his "daughter-in-law" in the election.
Jaswantnagar is Shivpal Yadav's stronghold and it gave Dimple Yadav the most number of votes.