Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSPL) president Shivpal Yadav today appointed a key party member to talk to the Congress and other secular parties for an alliance ahead of the general elections.

In his first press conference after his party was allotted the ‘key’ symbol, Shivpal said Mohammad Adeeb, a former Rajya Sabha member will talk to the Congress and other parties.

Shivpal inducted Adeeb along with former Samajwadi Party MLA Haafiz Irshad and over two dozen Muslim leaders into PSPL.

Adeeb attacked both Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for the SP-BSP alliance. He called Mayawati untrustworthy and Akhilesh “deceitful”.

“Akhilesh is a deceitful. He deceived his father, uncle, Samajwadi Party, and other parties. Other parties were waiting for an alliance. He should have spoken to Congress, Apna Dal, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, and others. But Akhilesh and Mayawati in their greed to keep all the seats to themselves, kept all out”.

Earlier this month, Shivpal reached out to the Congress after the SP-BSP sealed their alliance in UP for the Lok Sabha polls.

Shivpal who was once the second most powerful man in the Samajwadi Party until Akhilesh took over, said he wants to oust the BJP from both Uttar Pradesh and the Centre.

“My party will launch a campaign in UP and outside to oust BJP from power at the centre in 2019 and from UP in 2022,” he said.

When asked if his party would contest polls against the Samajwadi Party, Shivpal said, “We will contest elections against BJP”

But Shivpal, who broke away from the SP to form his own party in 2018, found common ground with the SP and BSP as far as EVMs are concerned and said polls should be conducted through ballot papers.

First Published: Jan 22, 2019 14:09 IST