Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav on Saturday hinted at the possibility of forming an alliance with the ruling BJP while making it clear that he wouldn’t go with the Samajwadi Party (SP), the party led by his nephew and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Talking to the media in Prayagraj, Mr. Yadav said, “I want to actively be a part of the 2024 [Lok Sabha] polls and government. Only future will tell whether an alliance with the BJP will happen or not. But I won’t compromise and go back with SP as they have cheated me many times.”
Mr. Yadav, who won the 2022 Assembly election on the SP ticket from Jaswant Nagar, has been targeting the SP and the party president since the State polls, and has sent feelers to the ruling BJP in the recent past by voting in favour of its nominee in the Presidential elections, Droupadi Murmu. After this, the SP issued a letter saying, "Respected Shivpal Singh Yadav Ji, If you think that you will get more respect elsewhere, you are free to go.”
After Mr. Yadav’s recent statement, the BJP said that no official communication had started between the saffron party and the Jaswant Nagar MLA, but it did not rule out the possibility. “As of now, no communication in relation to any alliance with Shivpal Singh Yadav is happening but if any formal proposal comes in future, our Central leadership will take a call,” Rakesh Upadhyay, the BJP U.P. spokesperson, said.
The SP, on whose ticket Mr. Shivpal Yadav stood in the 2022 polls, hoped that he would never compromise with the ruling BJP. “Shivpal Singh Yadav is a committed leader of the socialist tradition since the days of [the late] Mulayam Singh Yadav, hence I don’t think he will ever join hands with the communal forces against whom Mulayam Singh Yadav fought all his life,” Ameeque Jamei, SP’s national spokesperson, said.
The Hindu reached out to Mr. Shivpal Yadav for comments but no response was received.
