Marginalised within the Samajwadi Party and deposed as state party chief by his CM nephew, Shivpal Yadav said that he would contest the imminent Assembly elections in the state.
“I will contest the elections. The party is united and now there is no dispute - neither in the family nor in the party. We will go to the polls as a united force,’’ said Shivpal in lucknow on Wednesday.
However, Shivpal Yadav’s name was missing from the list of 38 candidates sent by Mulayam Singh Yadav to newly annointed SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday. Instead, Mulayam had recommended the name of Shivpal’s son Aditya Yadav from the Jaswantnagar Assembly seat of Etawah. But Shivpal’s name was added to the list late on Tuesday evening.
Earlier on Monday, the Election Commission had recognised Akhilesh Yadav as the national president of Samajwadi Party and also allotted him the party’s election symbol of ‘cycle’. Akhilesh now is the final authority to decide candidates for the Assembly elections.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was closeted with Rajya Sabha MPs Ram Gopal Yadav, Naresh Agarwal and several other leaders at his official residence on Kalidas Marg. The SP leaders put their heads together to give a final touch to the list of candidates in the light of its coalition with the Congress.
Sources said that Akhilesh-led Samajwadi Party will contest about 300 seats and the Akhilesh Yadav is expected to accommodate most of the 38 candidates recommended by his father.
After replacing Akhilesh as the state SP chief, Shivpal has been involved in a bitter power struggle with the CM. Shivpal undermined and challenged the CM’s decisions with patriarch Mulayam Singh publically backing his brother against son Akhilesh.
The bitter feud resulted in a political coup where Mulayam Singh was overthrown as national chief and Akhiesh was elected as the party boss during a national convention of the party on January1. later, both Mulayam and Akhiesh released their respective lists of candidates.
Meanwhile sources close to Shivpal said that if he was denied ticket by the Samajwadi Party, then he would contest the election on the symbol of lok Dal. Earlier, lok Dal president Sunil Singh had offered Mulayam Singh to take over his party and the symbol in case the SP’s cycle symbol was frozen by the Election Commission.