Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav, who was sacked from the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet, today said he never nurtured an ambition to become the chief minister and will always remain a "disciplined soldier" of his brother Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Talking to reporters here, en route to Saharanpur, he said,"I never wanted to become chief minister. Had I wanted,I could have been in 2003 but I supported Mulayam Singh Yadav and he became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh".
Shivpal said that he may or may not be the SP state president but will always remain a "disciplined soldier of Netaji (Mulayam)".
He said SP will form a 'Maha Gathbandhan', as was in Bihar polls, with secular parties to check BJP from wresting power in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the Samajwadi Party’s UP unit president moved out of his government accommodation in Lucknow.
Shivpal’s ministerial name plate was removed by his staff from his official residence.
Shivpal, the second most senior minister in the four-and-half years old Samajwadi Party government, was removed last week from the ministry for the second time in the last one month.
The red beacon atop his vehicle has also been taken away and he has surrendered his official vehicle to the state's 'Rajya Sampatti Vibhag' (state property division).
The move is being seen in political circles as Shivpal's snub to attempts by his nephew Akhilesh to broker a deal with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, in which he had reportedly sought revocation of Ram Gopal Yadav's expulsion from the party in lieu of the re-entry of Shivpal and three others -- Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima -- into his cabinet.
