Can't say why Mulayam is backing Akhilesh, says Shivpal Yadav

Ballia (UP): In a rare gesture, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Chief Shivpal Yadav, on Sunday, launched a bitter attack on brother and SP Patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav by saying that only latter can answer why he is standing with his son Akhilesh Yadav. He also cleared his stand that he is never going to look back.

Shivpal, who has never been openly critical of his brother before, said he had formed his party "only with the consent" of Mulayam. "The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party was formed only with the consent of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Why is Mulayam today standing with Akhilesh, its answer can be given by him (Mulayam) alone. But this is certain that I will not look back," Shivpal said.

Mulayam was seen with his son at the SP headquarters in Lucknow on Saturday when former chief of Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) Sunil Singh, once considered close to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, joined the Samajwadi Party.

Shivpal said that his efforts will be to unite people who believe in the philosophy of Ram Manohar Lohia, Chaudhary Charan Singh and Mahatma Gandhi.

The PSP chief said that he always gave respect to Mulayam, who is also his elder brother, and listened to everything he said.

"Not giving importance to what Mulayam said led to the split of the Samajwadi Party in 2018. This is the reason that the SP could not form the government in UP again, otherwise Akhilesh would have been the chief minister," Shivpal said.

Shivpal had formed his new party in October 2018 after parting ways with the Samajwadi Party.

Simmering discontent in the Yadav family came to the fore in January 2017 when Akhilesh became the national president of the party by replacing Mulayam.

Shivpal lost the battle for control of the party for which the uncle and nephew were fighting since August 2016 when Akhilesh was the chief minister and he was a key minister in then SP government.

Replying to another another question, Shivpal discounted the possibility of entering into any alliance with the BJP.

"From the BJP side, there were talks about coordination, but we did not enter into any sort of alliance," he added.