Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav has taken a veiled dig at party chief and nephew Akhilesh Yadav for “not inviting” him to the party meeting held in Lucknow.
While speaking to media, Shivpal Yadav said, “I was not invited to the party meeting. I waited for two days and cancelled all my programs for this meeting but I wasn’t invited. I am an MLA from Samajwadi Party but still not invited.”
It should be noted that Akhilesh Yadav, who recently resigned as Lok Sabha MP to focus on state politics, was elected as legislature party leader by the newly-elected MLAs during the meet.
This is the second time the relationship between Shivpal and Akhilesh seems on the rocks as they first had a fall out in 2016 after Akhilesh sacked his uncle from his Cabinet.
Akhilesh subsequently became the chief of the Samajwadi Party in January 2017 while Shivpal went on to form his own party – Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP).
Last year, the strained ties between the uncle and the nephew had eased. The SP and the PSP had joined forces in a panchayat poll in Etawah, and won 18 out of 24 wards.
By December 2021, the two parties had reached a seat-sharing agreement for the Assembly polls in the state. Following the pact, Shivpal Yadav agreed to contest the election on an SP ticket.
The results of the seven phases of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections were declared on March 10. The Yogi Adityanath-led state unit of the BJP won 255 seats, well over the halfway mark, while its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) got 12 and Nishad Party six.
The SP got 111 seats, the RLD eight and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party six seats. The Congress and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik got two seats each and Bahujan Samaj Party got one seat.
