Dejected Shivpal says 'no alliance with Akhilesh now, open for others'

After not getting due importance in the alliance, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) president, Shivpal Yadav, has said that now he would not have any relations with the Samajwadi Party. Shivpal said he has closed the door on Akhilesh Yadav joining the Samajwadi Party in the near future.

Shivpal announced on Saturday that his party's core committee has decided not to form an alliance with SP in the near future. He, however, said that doors are open for other like-minded parties and there could be an alliance with them.

Shivpal, a former SP leader and the uncle of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, left the party in 2018 and formed his own PSPL to run in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

However, before the 2022 assembly polls, both SP and PSPL forged an alliance and were given just one seat to contest. After defeat in the assembly polls, both Akhilesh and Shivpal came to loggers' heads again and started blaming each other for the debacle. Both PSPL and SP severed ties during the presidential elections when Shivpal decided to go with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Irked over it, the SP chief, Akhilesh Yadav, had written a letter to Shivpal saying that the latter was free to break the alliance. Not only Shivpal but also another alliance partner, the Suheldeo Rajbhar Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), backed the NDA in the presidential elections and severed ties with the SP. Shivpal and Rajbhar had attended the dinner hosted by UP CM Yogi in honour of NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu and later on voted for her.

Baffled over the desertion of allies Akhilesh had written letters to allies Om Prakash Rajbhar of the Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia Chief Shivpal Yadav, requesting that they go where they felt they would be treated better. Shivpal and Rajbhar both ran in the assembly elections in a coalition with the SP.