Samajwadi Party sees gain in Shivpal’s weakness

Lucknow, Sep 15 (IANS) Following the Samajwadi Party's defeat in this year's Lok Sabha elections, it was expected that the Yadav family feud would be settled and Akhilesh Yadav would finally come to terms with his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

However, instead of making any effort in this direction, the SP has petitioned to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly to cancel Shivpal Singh Yadav's membership.

Shivpal Singh Yadav had left the SP during the Lok Sabha elections, but the party did not take any initiative to end his Assembly membership at the time. It was then believed that there could be a reconciliation between him and Akhilesh Yadav in the future. But it did not happen.

It was now clear that the SP will have to contest with Shivpal Singh Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSPL) which will further add fuel to the family feud.

Political analysts have admitted that Shivpal Singh Yadav had tried to show his strength by contesting the Lok Sabha elections with the PSPL, but he did not succeed.

"There is no use in keeping Shivpal Singh Yadav in the party now. Weakening him will bring down his party to the grassroots and their leaders will come in support of SP. This will benefit the party in the by-elections.

"However, most people have understood that Shivpal Singh Yadav is nothing without the SP. So it is necessary to weaken him by snatching his membership," a senior SP leader said.

Political analyst Ratanmani Lal said: "Shivpal Singh Yadav was looking at his political career in the Congress party after separating from the SP. There was a lot of talks that he was planning to join hands with the Congress. But after the Congress suffered a crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, he was left all by himself. After the elections, the BJP has also stopped giving Shivpal Singh Yadav any importance.

"Both Akhilesh and Mulayam have understood that Shivpal has no way to join either the Congress or BJP. In such a situation, the SP can become stronger only by weakening the PSPL."

Another political analyst Rajkumar said: "Shivpal Singh Yadav wanted to join the SP after the Lok Sabha elections, but Akhilesh was not willing to include him in the party at any cost. In fact, after taking Shivpal, Akhilesh's headache would have increased."