The Samajwadi Party seems to be on the verge of a split with senior party leader Shivpal Yadav reiterating his resolve to float a new political outfit named ‘Secular Samajwadi Party’ on June 15.
Shivpal also lashed out at his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav calling him ‘Shakuni’ — a villainy character of the epic ‘Mahabharata’. On April 30, Ram Gopal had termed Shivpal as an ‘ignorant person’ by charging him of not reading the party’s constitution and talking ‘nonsense’.
Speaking to the media at Etawah on Wednesday, Shivpal said, “I have given three-month time to Akhilesh to honour his promise of handing over the party reins to Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav). If he fails, I will float a new political party by June 15.’’
He also rubbished charges against him saying, “I may or may not have read the constitution of the party but I know one thing for sure. None other than ‘Shakuni’ has drafted the document. ‘Shakuni’ has read the constitution of the party, I have read Bhagwad Gita and ‘Shakuni’ should also read Gita.’’
Shivpal added, “The SP contested the last Assembly poll in alliance with the Congress under the leadership of Akhilesh against the wishes of Netaji. There the SP faced the worst-ever poll rout. The SP had suffered a similar rout under Akhilesh in 2014 lok Sabha poll, when he was the Chief Minister and the party could win only five seats,’’ he added.