In yet another snub to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, his uncle and State Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Shivpal Yadav announced the merger of don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal (QED) with the SP ahead of the State Assembly polls.
“Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has given his nod to the merger. I am making this announcement only after due permission from the SP national president,” said Shivpal Yadav in lucknow on Thursday.
The merger of the QED with the SP three months after Akhilesh had shot down the proposal is expected to intensify the ongoing power struggle between him and Shivpal. In June, the CM had publicly vented his anger at Shivpal’s move of merging the QED and said any link-up with Ansari’s outfit will only sully the image of the party.
Akhilesh was the party’s State president then, a post taken away from him recently by his father. But in the changed scenario, the merger of QED with the SP became imminent the day Mulayam Singh Yadav handed the coveted job to his brother Shivpal. Since then, Ansari had started claiming alliance with the SP.
Announcing the merger, Shivpal said that all senior leaders of the party were on the same page on the issue.
When persistently asked whether the CM has been informed about the development, Shivpal Yadav said, “Akhilesh Yadav has been informed about this decision.”
The SP hopes that the merger will help tap the Muslim vote bank in eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially in Ghazipur, Mau and Varanasi ahead of next year’s assembly elections.
The merger of the two parties had earlier sparked off a battle between Akhilesh Yadav and uncle Shivpal.
On a day when his uncle had announced the merger of the QED with the SP in lucknow, Akhilesh had said, “If we can manage booths, we will win the polls hands down,”
The same night, Akhilesh had removed Secondary Education Minister Balram Singh Yadav from the Ministry for being instrumental in the merger.
later, the CM had claimed that there was no dispute within the party or the family over the merger. “Whatever Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) says will be acceptable to us,” he had said.