Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh on Friday made it clear that he will start campaigning for the SP-Cong alliance with his brother Shivpal Yadav from Jaswantnagar on February 9 and then move on to campaign with son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Mulayam, who is yet to hit the campaign trail for the Assembly elections has once again favoured brother Shivpal Yadav.
“Will start with campaigning from Jaswantnagar on February 9 for Shivpal, will campaign for Akhilesh later,” Mulayam told ANI.
The move by Mulayam comes as a mark of support for the SP leader who saw himself sidelined by his nephew Akhilesh in the bitter family feud that soon escalated into a fight for the party symbol and control.
Akhilesh won the battle at the Election Commission that led to him wielding complete control over party affairs.
Shivpal – both before and after the feud – has not hidden his grouse. Addressing an election rally immediately after filing his nomination from his home constituency Jaswantnagar, Shivpal had said: “I am thankful that I was given a ticket, otherwise I would have entered the fray as an independent candidate. I was all prepared for it. People wanted me to contest.”
Feeling sidelined in the party, Shivpal has said that he will float a new political party on March 11, the day the result of the Assembly polls in the state will be announced.
Without naming his nephew Akhilesh, Shivpal also sought to explain why he was sidelined.
“I had done nothing wrong. I was only opposing those who were indulging in wrongdoings and Netaji (Mulayam Singh) was supporting me. Immediately after this, I and Netaji were at their radar,” he said.
“I told CM sahab that you keep the right to distribute tickets, but let Netaji remain at the president’s post,” he added.
Mulayam, who had earlier rejected the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Indian National Congress in Uttar Pradesh, and said that he will not campaign for them as he believes that SP is capable enough to fight alone, marked a turnaround of sorts and said that the alliance has his blessings.
“Akhilesh is my son after all,” Mulayam had said.
Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in seven-phase between February 11 and March 8. Results will be declared on March 11.
