Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday, 9 December, attended the rally of his younger brother Shivpal Yadav's newly formed party – the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) (PSP-L) in Lucknow. Along with Mulayam, his daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav was also present for the event.
This was reportedly the first rally of the party after it was launched by SP dissident Shivpal Yadav. The PSP-L came into being after the Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM) was floated by Shivpal in August.
The breaking away of Shivpal Yadav from SP was the culmination of a long-standing dispute between him and Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav hit out at the BJP Sunday, saying the saffron party had "weakened" the country and it wanted to "instigate riots" for political gains in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has weakened the country. We will oust the BJP from power at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh... We want peace and brotherhood, the communal people want to instigate riots.Shivpal Singh Yadav, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav, while addressing the gathering, started speaking about the SP rather than the PSPL, causing embarrassment to Shivpal Yadav.
"The SP carries everyone along with it, treats all human beings as equal irrespective of their caste and religion, so make the SP stronger," he said, leaving Shivpal Yadav nonplussed.
Shivpal Yadav said there should not be any temple on the disputed land and added that the Supreme Court order on the matter should not be defied.
"The need is to remove the current government, which is dishonest, useless and false. I and 'netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav) are with the Muslims," Shivpal Yadav said.
"If the temple is to be built, then a piece of land can be searched on the banks of the Saryu river. There is no dearth of land for the government," he said.
Shivpal Yadav alleged that there is corruption across varied sectors and departments in Uttar Pradesh.
"(Narendra) Modi ji might go on telling about his 56-inch chest, but there isn't any strength in it to combat corruption. Tall promises of the chowkidar of eradicating corruption have been just like a disaster in UP," he alleged.
Shivpal, whose speech was punctuated with slogans from the crowd applauding him, assured the gathering that his party will make all efforts to provide jobs to the youth.
On the day Shivpal Yadav floated his new outfit, Mulayam Singh Yadav had visited the PSPL office here and hours later dropped in at the SP headquarters for a chat with son Akhilesh, leaving his party workers guessing where his sympathies lay.
Speaking about the significance of the rally, Shivpal Yadav on Sunday said:
“There are a lot of national and social issues in front of us and that is why we have called the ‘Janakrosh’ rally today.”Shivpal Yadav, as quoted by News18
A PSP-L state vice-president also told News18 that their primary agenda was to oppose the BJP's "jungle raj", as he criticised the tenure of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the high crime rate in the state.
Shivpal's outfit is said to be preparing for the Lok Sabha elections in UP, but it reportedly won't fight from the seat where Mulayam Singh Yadav would contest.
(With inputs from PTI and News18.)
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