LUCKNOW: Estranged
Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav is now battle-ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His vehicle for the big battle would be Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP). Although an official announcement is yet to be made in this regard, Shivpal, the younger brother of SP patriarch
Mulayam Singh Yadav, confirmed to TOI that he had already applied for registration to the
Election Commission of India (ECI).
Sources at the ECI told TOI that Shivpal had applied for the registration of his party in early 2017 but did not pursue it aggressively, apparently waiting for a truce in the family and the party. He also applied for the
Janata Dal's "wheel" symbol which has been frozen by the commission after a series of splits in the party and various splinters vying for it. Shivpal's move to get a new political outfit registered was so secret that he did not share it even with Mulayam, said sources.
The feud in the Yadav family started in 2016 itself, when SP was in power. After facing constant neglect in the party ever since his nephew,
Akhilesh Yadav, took over as SP president in January 2017, Shivpal formed
Samajwadi Secular Morcha on August 29 this year, claiming that Mulayam was with him. Sources close to him told TOI that at this stage, too, he had been waiting for feelers from Akhilesh towards a rapprochement but nothing came.
Shivpal Yadav
