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Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll: Not my disciple, says Shivpal on BJP nominee
Dimple and I will fulfil netaji’s dreams with Akhilesh’s support, says Shivpal at election meeting in Jaswant Nagar assembly segment of Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) leader Shivpal Yadav on Monday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said the ruling party’s nominee in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll is not his disciple.
The remark was an apparent reference to the BJP’s Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll candidate Raghuraj Shakya.
He also said the dreams of netaji (Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav), who passed away on October 10, will be fulfilled by (SP’s Mainpuri candidate) Dimple Yadav and him with the support of Akhilesh Yadav.
“A true tribute to ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav) will be a record victory for Dimple Yadav,” the PSP-L leader said at a big show of strength in his assembly constituency Jaswant Nagar where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and party national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav were present as the joint campaign intensified.
“Make my bahu (daughter-in-law) victorious by a much bigger margin than mine,” he said.
He was canvassing for SP candidate Dimple Yadav at the rally.
Without naming Shakya, Shivpal Yadav said a person is “roaming among you and seeking vote... He is saying that he is my ‘shishya’”.
“Leave being disciple, he is not even my ‘chela’. Had he been so, he would not have left clandestinely. He is an overambitious and opportunist person,” Shivpal Yadav said.
“Had he been my disciple he would have gone to BJP (after) telling me. He went covertly. Such a person is not considered as chela,” he said.
Though located in Etawah district, Jaswant Nagar is an assembly segment of the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency.
Shakya has been pitted against Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll necessitated by the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Last week, the BJP candidate said Shivpal Singh Yadav is his “political guru” and he will seek his blessings.
He was once a close associate of Shivpal Yadav but quit PSP-L to join the BJP earlier this year.
Political analysts said after passing on his traditional seat Jaswant Nagar to Shivpal, Mulayam Singh never held a public meeting there. Akhilesh also never went to Jaswant Nagar to hold any election meeting before, they added.
Jaswant Nagar is crucial to winning the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, which also comprises Mainpuri and Karhal assembly segments. Akhilesh represents Karhal.
Like in Saifai on Sunday, the SP held a workers’ meet in Jaswant Nagar where the entire Yadav clan was seen together. As soon as he reached, Akhilesh touched the feet of his uncle.
The BJP, Shivpal alleged, has a problem with the (Yadav) family and keeps churning out misinformation.
“If we are not meeting, the BJP will say there is a quarrel in the family, when we are together it will label as parivarwad (dynastic politics). There is no cure for the BJP and it can only be defeated when people come out and vote heavily against it,” Shivpal Yadav said.
“The BJP has pitted brother against the brother, it is dividing the country,” he said.
During this meeting both Akhilesh and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav garlanded Shivpal. Former MPs Tej Pratap and Dharmendra Yadav, besides Anshul Yadav and Aditya Yadav were also present.
