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Sulking Shivpal Yadav takes oath, meets Yogi Adityanath; says ‘very soon…'
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia chief and Adityanath met at the CM's 5 Kalidas Marg residence for about 20 minutes.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) leader Shivpal Yadav, who had contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Jaswantnagar seat of Etawah on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party, took oath as an MLA on Wednesday and later, met chief minister Yogi Adityanath -- amid reports of a rift between him and his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.
PSP-L spokesperson Deepak Mishra, however, said it was a courtesy call.
"Since he could not meet the Leader of the House after the elections, he met him today after taking the oath. He also met the Speaker of the UP Legislative Assembly," news agency PTI quoted Mishra as saying.
Shivpal and Adityanath met at the CM's 5 Kalidas Marg residence in Lucknow for about 20 minutes.
When asked whether he will take any major decision, Shivpal said, "Very soon, I will talk about everything and tell everything."
Shivpal was sworn in as an MLA amid speculation that he "delayed" the oath-taking to indicate a strained relationship with Akhilesh.
Three other MLAs too took oath on the occasion.
Shivpal Yadav had contested the Assembly elections from Jaswantnagar seat of Etawah on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party headed by his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.
On March 26, Shivpal had alleged that he was not invited to the party's legislative meeting.
"I was not invited to the party meeting. I waited for two days and cancelled all my programmes for the meeting, but I wasn't invited. I am an MLA from Samajwadi Party but still not invited," he said.
Shivpal and Akhilesh had a bitter fallout over control of the party before the 2017 assembly elections.
Beginning in August 2016, both leaders hurled verbal barbs at each other for months, eventually leading to more dissension in the party and its poor performance in the 2017 assembly elections, when it was routed from everywhere except its pocket boroughs in central UP.
Shivpal floated the PSP-L before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He contested against SP candidate and then sitting MP Akshay Yadav from Firozabad. However, both lost as the BJP wrested the seat from the SP. Shivpal has had limited electoral success but continues to wield influence in districts like Etawah, Mainpuri, Forozabad, Agra and Mathura.
The three other MLAs who took oath on Wednesday were Fateh Bahadur Singh from Caimpiyarganj (Gorakhpur), Surendra Maithani from Govindnagar (Kanpur) and Ashish Kumar Singh from Bilgram-Mallawa (Hardoi).
Six MLAs, including senior SP leader Azam Khan and Kairana legislator Nahid Hasan, are yet to take an oath.
