Shivpal Yadav, the warring uncle of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hit back with vengeance by publically voting against the party line in the Presidential poll on Monday. Akhilesh had unceremoniously sacked Shivpal Yadav from the cabinet in October 2016.
Shivpal not only gloated before the media that he had voted for the NDA’s presidential candidate and described him as a person with `secular credentials ‘, he also posted his `adventure’ on the Facebook.
“Yes, I have voted for Ramnath Kovind. I have voted as per the directions of Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) . All my life I have done what was told to me by Netaji. Most of the SP MlAs have voted for Kovind,’’ claimed Shivpal after casting his vote.
Yadav was accompanied by two Independent MlAs -Vijay Mishra and Aman Mani Tripathi, who were camp followers of Shivpal but were denied tickets by Akhilesh Yadav in the last Assembly elections.
“Kovind is a secular person and a reputed person. Netaji and I, along with many others, have decided to support him. He is winning the election. We were not consulted before the Samajwadi Party decided to support the Opposition candidate Meira Kumar,” he said while hitting out at Akhilesh.
“Kovind is the best candidate in the contest for the election to the top office. Netaji is of the firm opinion that there should have been no contest and Kovind should have been the consensus candidate of all the political parties,’’ said Shivpal Yadav.
Asked whether cross-voting by him would affect the secular credentials of Samajwadi Party and allied parties supporting Meira Kumar, Shivpal shot back, “The NDA candidate is more secular than the Opposition candidate.’’
Unnerved by crossvoting by one of its top leaders, the Samajwadi Party soon swung into damage control mode. Akhilesh Yadav drafted leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary and party’s Muslim mascot Azam Khan.
“Shivpal is a committed socialist and has been with the party since the days of its inception. He can never vote for the BJP candidate in an important election like that of the President of India. I am confident that he has voted for the UPA candidate Meira Kumar,’’ said Chaudhary, after casting his vote.
Worried over the negative signals to the minority community, Azam Khan also sought to play down cross voting by Shivpal. “Shivpal Yadav can never vote for the BJP candidate. It’s a figment of imagination of the media. I am sure that he has voted for the UPA candidate,’’claimed Khan.
Meanwhile, security arrangements inside the Assembly building, where the secretariat is also located, underwent a major overhaul after explosives were recovered inside the Assembly on July 12.
While the security personnel held a mock drill to assess their alertness on the eve of the poll on Sunday, the Assembly premises were sealed with heavy deployment of security personnel at vantage points.
Due to security reasons, several MlAs came on foot to the Assembly premises as their vehicles were not allowed inside. BJP MlA from Harriya (Basti) Ajay Singh came on an ambulance as he was ill. BJP MlA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, who was hurt in an accident recently, also came in with a helper to cast his vote.