Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav termed as ‘irresponsible and childish statement’ SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s remarks that why the BJP was delaying his induction. He said if Akhilesh wanted him to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) then he should expel him from the party.
“It’s an irresponsible and childish statement. I’m one of 111 MLAs of SP who won in recent assembly elections. If he wants to send me to BJP, then he should expel me from the party,” Shivpal Yadav, who is also Akhilesh’s uncle, said. Shivpal won the recent assembly polls from Jaswantnagar on an SP ticket.
Shivpal and Akhilesh have been at odds for years. The senior SP leader had also formed his own party, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party. However, ahead of the assembly polls, Shivpal joined the SP back on the call of Akhilesh Yadav, who was seeking to oust the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath. But the BJP won the election by a huge margin.
The rift between Shivpal and Akhilesh came out in the open soon after the first meeting of SP leaders after losing the polls. Akhilesh Yadav called a meeting in which he was declared party leader, but Shivpal Yadav was not invited to the meeting. He was not happy at this and said he was not invited to the party meeting despite being an MLA. He said he waited for two days and cancelled all his programs for that meeting but he wasn’t invited. “I am an MLA from Samajwadi Party but still not invited. I will return to Etawah,” he had said.
Ever since, there have been speculations that he might cross over to the BJP. Last month, Shivpal met chief minister Yogi Adityanath, fuelling speculation that he might leave the SP.
In this backdrop, Akhilesh said why the BJP was delaying its move to induct his uncle. He has also said it before. But Shivpal has so far maintained that if Akhilesh wants him to join the BJP, then he should expel him from the SP.
Speaking to reporters earlier, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party chief said that as of now, there was no decision on joining the BJP. “When the right time comes, I will definitely tell everyone about it,” he had said.
