Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (second from left) presents his party’s flag to his uncle and PSPL leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, in Etawah, on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The resounding victory for the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha by-election on Thursday could catalyse the end of the rift between the party president Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohiya (PSPL) founder Shivpal Singh Yadav.
After Mr. Akhilesh’s wife Dimple won Mainpuri by a margin of 2,88,461 votes, the SP president called on his uncle in Saifai and presented him a flag of the party. “Akhilesh has presented me the cycle [SP] symbol. From now on, the symbol will be in my car. We are together from today,” the PSPL founder said.
The PSPL also announced that it would contest forthcoming polls with the SP.
Since winning the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election on an SP symbol from Jaswantnagar, which falls under Mainpuri Lok Sabha, Mr. Shivpal was reportedly sidelined in the party. He cosied up to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party by voting for its nominee Droupadi Murmu in the Presidential election and later declared that he would never join hands with the SP after the “insults” he suffered.
Larger role ahead
However, the demise of his father and SP founder Mulayam Singh in October led to a thaw in the Yadav family, as Mr. Akhilesh reached out to Mr. Shivpal, ahead of the Mainpuri bypoll.
The PSPL chief actively campaigned for the SP, holding dozens of meetings mostly in his Assembly segment, enabling Ms. Dimple to secure a lead of over one lakh votes from Jaswantnagar.
Political circles in Lucknow are abuzz with indications that the Jaswantnagar MLA might be offered a leading role in New Delhi in the run-up to the 2024 General elections to establish better coordination with like-minded parties.
Mr. Shivpal, who headed the U.P, unit of the SP during the Mulayam Singh era, is known to share a good rapport with the late patriarch’s socialist contemporaries across the country.
