Congress demands clarification from Akhilesh, Shivpal on SP-QED merger

Amidst the ongoing political tussle within the Samajwadi Party, the Congress Party on Friday urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav to clarify their stand on the party's merger with the Quami Ekta Dal (QED) ahead of next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"The internal struggle in the Samajwadi Party for power is at pinnacle. At one end Akhilesh Yadav says that he will not include a criminal in their party and on other end Shivpal Singh announces the merger with Quami Ekta Dal," Congress spokesperson Surender Rajput told ANI.

"What is their parliamentary board doing as earlier their parliamentary board declined the merger. Now, where is their parliamentary board? Shivpal and Akhilesh need to make their stand clear," he added.

The Congress leader also alleged that the general public of Uttar Pradesh are suffering because of the ongoing friction within the ruling Samajwadi Party.

Shivpal yesterday announced the merger of Mukhtar Ansari's QED merger with his party. This came barely three months after Akhilesh Yadav raised objection that he did not want people like Ansari in his party.

Shivpal, who announced the merger at a press conference in Lucknow yesterday, said he had the blessings of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Ansari, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh's Mau district, is presently in jail in connection with a murder case.

The Samajwadi Party hopes that the merger will help it tap the Muslim vote bank in eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially in Ghazipur, Mau and Varanasi ahead of the next year's assembly elections.