Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) will be the name of the new party headed by Shivpal Yadav. On Tuesday, at an event here to enrol new members, Shivpal announced that the new party had been registered with the Election Commission.
Shivpal parted company with the Samajwadi Party in August and floated Samajwadi Secular Morcha on August 29 before announcing that his party would contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 elections.
Close Shivpal aide and former minister Sharda Pratap Shukla said that the new party would be a force to reckon with in the State.
Shivpal Yadav said that he had always wanted ‘unity’ in the Samajwadi Party but neither he nor Mulayam Singh Yadav got the due respect under Akhilesh Yadav. “I was pushed out. I ask you all not to get involved in sycophancy. You will be free to point out if there is something wrong going on. I will allow freedom in my party,” he said. Claiming extensive support for his political front, Shivpal asserted: “There is an anti-people government both at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. Due to wrong policies and decisions of these two regimes, people are distraught. Decisions like demonetisation and GST (Goods and Services Tax) have broken the backbone of traders and the economy. Besides, promises made by the BJP were not met.”