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Reconsider your decision to support Sinha: Shivpal to Akhilesh
Shivpal Yadav appeals to Akhilesh to ponder over his decision to support oppn nominee Yashwant Sinha for July 18 presidential poll
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav in a letter to Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday appealed to him to reconsider his decision to support opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the July 18 presidential election while referring to an old statement of Sinha calling SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav an “ISI agent”.
The letter of Shivpal, an SP MLA from Jaswantnagar, comes a day after Uttar Pradesh deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak hit out at Akhilesh over the issue. On their respective Twitter handles, both Maurya and Pathak had sought Akhilesh’s response over Yashwant Sinha’s old statement about the SP founder.
On the other hand, the SP described both the deputy chief ministers as “pracharjeevi” (propagandist) and asked them about the role of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leaders during the country’s freedom movement.
Maurya and Pathak shared an old newspaper clipping on twitter that featured Sinha’s statement referring to SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav as an agent of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Maurya shared the clipping from an English newspaper titled “Mulayam is an ISI agent” in which the allegation was made by Sinha.
Maurya shared the article and tweeted: “SP president Akhilesh Yadav, what will you say about the statement made by the person you are supporting for the post of president on Mulayam Singh Yadav!” Hours later, Pathak shared the same news clipping on the microblogging website and wrote: “By supporting the person who called Mulayam Singh Yadav an ISI agent, Akhilesh Yadav has once again presented the ‘sanskar’ of the SP before the state.”
Responding to these tweets, the SP, from its official Twitter handle, wrote: “Pracharjeevi Deputy Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, tell us what was the role of your leaders and party in the freedom movement of the country?”
On Saturday, Shivpal Yadav tweeted the clipping of the same newspaper that Maurya and Pathak had. Shivpal, however, also posted the copy of the letter he wrote to Akhilesh.
In the letter, Shivpal wrote: “...It is a strange paradox that the SP has supported such a candidate in the presidential polls who had called our guardian and inspiration Netaji--when he was the defence minister--an agent of the Pakastani spy agency ISI. It is saddening that the Samajwadi Party that once used to get angry on any attempt to insult Netaji, is today supporting such a person in the presidential elections. It appears that the entire party has become a butt of joke....I know my limits, you are the president of the SP. It is my suggestion that you pay attention to points mentioned and reconsider the decision”.
Voting for the presidential election will be held on Monday (July 18). The preparations for voting in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly are being finalised and the state’s main opposition SP’s ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has announced its support to Droupadi Murmu, the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The SBSP has six MLAs in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle and PSP-L president Shivpal Yadav has already announced his support for Murmu.
