The presidential election on Monday came as the latest flashpoint in the running feud between chacha Shivpal Singh Yadav and his nephew Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party first family.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday, accused his uncle Shivpal Yadav of working on Bharatiya Janata Party “directions” to target Yashwant Sinha, by saying that the opposition’s presidential candidate had in the past called SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav an “ISI agent”.
While Akhilesh Yadav had announced to support joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who has been elected to the UP Assembly on SP ticket, publicly announced his support for National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu.
Shivpal Yadav had also attended the dinner hosted in the honour of Droupadi Murmu at the official residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Talking to reporters after casting his vote, Akhilesh Yadav cast aspersions on the political integrity of his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
“There was an ‘ishara’ (direction) from Delhi (by the BJP) after which a deputy chief minister tweeted an old newspaper clipping highlighting Sinha’s ‘ISI agent’ comment on Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and then it was circulated by Shivpal Yadav," Akhilesh Yadav said.
Hitting back at his uncle, the SP chief reminded him about the language used by the saffron party for ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and the Samajwadi Party.
“Chacha (Shivpal Yadav) should know the language of the BJP during the recent UP polls. The language of the BJP has always been bad towards Netaji and the samajwadis,” Akhilesh said.
Shivpal Yadav, who turned up at the Tilak Hall to cast his vote, told reporters, “A ‘pakka’ (staunch) samajwadi and a diehard follower of Netaji will never tolerate anyone terming him an ISI agent and will never vote for that person.”
“A pakka samajwadi will never support the allegations made against Netaji. Yashwant Sinha had made allegations against Netaji when he was the defence minister and Pakistan was trying to attack India. At that point of time, Netaji had said if war broke out, it would not be fought on India’s soil but on the enemy’s soil.” Shivpal Yadav, the head of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), said.
He added, “As a Lok Sabha MP, Netaji had always urged the government to eliminate terrorism and had extended his support (in doing so).”
Amid bickering between Akhilesh and Shivpal, party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav cast his vote in Parliament in Delhi. Mulayam Singh Yadav is the MP from Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency. The ailing leader turned up in a wheelchair to cast his vote in the national capital.
His preference for the country’s top constitutional post is, however, unknown.
Akhilesh and Shivpal, who came together in the February-March Uttar Pradesh polls after falling apart in 2016, turned hostile to each other again after the Samajwadi Party’s debacle.