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Mainpuri bypoll: Akhilesh, Shivpal share stage at rally in Saifai
Shivpal had fallen out with his nephew before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The two leaders had come together again for 2022 assembly elections, apparently at the behest of Mulayam.
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday signalled an end to his over six-year rift with uncle and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) founder Shivpal Yadav, asserting that their relationship was never strained.
The show of bonhomie came during a campaign rally in the run up to the bypoll for Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, necessitated by the death of SP founder and former Union minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
After touching Shivpal’s feet on the stage, Akhilesh addressed the rally in the family bastion of Saifai and expressed confidence that the party would register a historic win.
“People say there are dooriyan (distance). Never was there any distance between chacha (uncle) and bhatija (nephew). The differences were in politics, but not between the uncle and the nephew. I am happy that today, the differences in politics have also come to an end,” Akhilesh said.
Shivpal had fallen out with his nephew before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The two leaders had come together again for 2022 assembly elections, apparently at the behest of Mulayam. But after the 2022 assembly elections, they parted ways again after the BJP made a comeback to power for second consecutive term.
It was the first time in six years that Shivpal openly campaigned in Saifai for the SP candidate, Dimple Yadav — Akhilesh’s wife.
Mounting an attack on the BJP in his speech, Akhilesh said the party was frightened and knew the people of Jaswant Nagar, which Shivpal represents in the assembly, and Karhal that Akhilesh himself represents, were with the SP and the people in Mainpuri also had made up their mind to go with the SP.
“The bypolls are taking place at a time when netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) is not with us. All eyes in the country are on this election, the country will see the SP registering a historic win,” he said.
Shivpal, in his address at the rally, exhorted party workers to ensure Dimple’s victory. “Whenever I visited my constituency, Jaswant Nagar people said only one thing —g et united and you can defeat BJP. So we have become one today,” he added.
Mounting an attack on the ruling BJP, sharply he said it should tell people what work it has done for people in the last 10 years. “Corruption has increased to such an extent, not one work can be done without bribing government officials and employees,” he said, adding no work has been done in his constituency related to tube wells, roads and electricity.
The BJP hit back saying Akhilesh was feeling the heat from the ruling party’s performance and said a reconciliation will not be enough to boost the SP’s electoral fortunes.
State BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary said: “This unity shows the impact of BJP. The SP is feeling the heat even in Mainpuri and that’s why the same ‘chachaji (uncle)’, who was ignored, humiliated earlier has now been made a star campaigner. Why wasn’t he a star campaigner in earlier by-polls?”
“This time however, with his wife as a contestant, the SP chief had to drive down to seek his ‘chachaji’s’ blessings. We are all for united family, but this perhaps won’t be enough for SP to save Mainpuri from going BJP’s way,” he added.
After Mulayam’s demise, Akhilesh and Shivpal were seen together several times but no reports had emerged of a reconciliation.
A thaw in relations, however, became apparent on November 16 when Shivpal held a meeting with his supporters and told them to ensure Dimple’s victory as that would be “the real tribute to Mulayam Singh Yadav”.
The next day, Akhilesh and Dimple visited Shivpal’s residence in Saifai and spent 45 minutes with him. Akhilesh later tweeted, “Along with the blessings of netaji and elders of the family, the people of Mainpuri are with us.” Shivpal, on his end, tweeted a picture of them are wrote, “We will irrigate the garden netaji created with our blood and sweat.”
