Lok Sabha elections 2019: Mulayam Singh Yadav to maintain distance with Shivpal Yadav

For the first time, Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav has indicated he is maintaining a distance from his younger brother and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) president Shivpal Yadav.

Replying to reporters’ query on whether he would campaign for Shivpal in Firozabad, Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Friday: “Why should I worry who goes to his rally, who doesn’t? Why should I bother? I am contesting elections myself and there is a lot of paperwork to do for that.” He was in Etawah “to prepare to file nomination” for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, a seat he won four times, including in 2014.

Shivpal is contesting the Firozabad seat against sitting SP MP Akshaya Yadav, the son of party national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav.

Shivpal has been saying that Mulayam’s blessings are with him since the Yadav family’s political feud began in August 2016. And this is the first time Mulayam Yadav has openly said he has nothing to do with Shivpal’s political career.

For the past couple of years, the SP patriarch has been doing a balancing act between his son and party present Akhilesh Yadav and brother Shivpal. But Friday’s statement indicated that Mulayam is now clearly with the SP and not with his brother, politically. On March 8, Mulayam’s name topped the first list that Akhilesh announced.

When Shivpal released his party’s list of star campaigners without Mulayam’s name on it, he too indicated that he no longer expected much from Mulayam.

First Published: Mar 30, 2019 00:06 IST