Putting an end to months of twists and turns, the powerful Yadav family of Uttar Pradesh announced a reunion on Thursday, with Shivpal Singh Yadav merging his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) into the Samajwadi Party led by his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.
Former chief minister Akhilesh welcomed his uncle into the SP fold by handing him over a flag of the Samajwadi Party amid a huge gathering of supporters at SS Memorial School in their family bastion of Saifai in Etawah district.
Videos of the event showed party leaders removing the PSP’s flag and installing the Samajwadi Party flag on the vehicles of Shivpal, his son Aditya Yadav and son-in-law Abhishek Yadav.
The development comes on a day when Akhilesh’s wife Dimple registered a victory in Mainpuri parliamentary bypolls. Shivpal had appealed to supporters to vote for her in this election, which was necessitated due to the demise of sitting MP Mulayam Singh Yadav or Netaji as he was fondly called.
“This victory is the victory of Netaji and his values,” Shivpal tweeted before announcing the merger.
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Speaking to reporters in Saifai, Shivpal said, “We came together during the Mainpuri Lok Sabha polls itself. Today, the SP flag was installed on my vehicle once and for all. We will contest all elections in the future together.”
For the uninitiated, the Yadav family, who controls UP’s main opposition Samajwadi Party, split into two in early 2017 with Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal leading a revolt after losing to his nephew Akhilesh in attempts to take over the reins of the party during a prolonged feud.
A disgruntled Shivpal later floated his own Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) to challenge Akhilesh as the prime torchbearer of socialist values of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. At that time, Mulayam was seen siding with his son Akhilesh.
However, both leaders decided to contest the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly polls in an alliance earlier this year. Shivpal was elected legislator from Jaswantnagar seat but the rift in the Yadav family started growing again as the alliance failed to dislodge the BJP in the high-stake elections in March, 2022.
By July, differences between Shivpal and Akhilesh became the subject of public discussion with the former questioning the SP chief’s decision to extend support to opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential elections.
Shivpal had raised questions on Akhilesh’s leadership over support to Sinha, who had once called Mulayam “an ISI agent”. As differences widened, Akhilesh said Shivpal was free to go wherever he pleased.
Their frosty relations saw signs of a thaw as both were seen performing post-death rituals of Mulayam as Shivpal indicated to a possible come-together. The picture became clearer when Akhilesh and Dimple sought Shivpal’s blessings before she filed her nomination paper from Mainpuri.
Considered a fine strategist, Shivpal campaigned in support of Dimple during the byelections and appealed to supporters to address Akhilesh as ‘Chhote Netaji’.
“You (Akhilesh) said in Karhal that there is no leader like Netaji. I want to say that people of Mainpuri and Saifai used to call him bade mantri (senior minister) and I was called chhote mantri (junior minister). Now I want you all to call Akhilesh as Chhote Netaji,” Shivpal appealed to an election rally in his Jaswantnagar constituency that falls under Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, in the last week of November.
At the moment, it is not clear what role Shivpal would play in the Samajwadi Party.