Shivpal: Ready for alliance with SP to stop BJP

National president of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Shivpal Yadav said he was ready to enter into alliance with the SP but with the condition that his party leaders would also get tickets.

Gorakhpur: Shivpal Yadav, national president of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party and estranged uncle of former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, said here on Thursday that he was ready for an alliance with the SP to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from coming to power again, but on his conditions.

Shivpal attacked the BJP governments at the centre and in the state over a number of issues (Oic for representation)

“To stop the BJP, we are ready to enter into alliance with the SP but with the condition that our party leaders would also get tickets. If this goes well with him (Akhilesh), we will come forward,”said Shivpal at a press conference after a brief halt at a hotel here during his Parivartan Rath Yatra.

Shivpal, who parted ways with the SP to form Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party following differences with Akhilesh just before the 2017 elections, attacked the BJP governments at the centre and in the state over a number of issues, including lawlessness, inflation, unemployment and corruption but refrained from taking names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Sharing his party’s poll agenda, he promised free power up to 300 units (on the lines of the Delhi government) , job to one person from each family and interest-free loan of ₹5 lakh for start-ups .

On being asked if he had any plan to join the BJP, Shivpal said, “When I didn’t join this party till now, there is no question of joining it in the near future.”