Shivpal Yadav to launch 'Samajwadi Secular Front' on July 6

The front will be headed by Mulayam; Shivpal says that it would be a front, not a political party

Sidelined Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav said on Wednesday that he would launch an outfit named 'Samajwadi Secular Front', which will be headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav on July 6, to bring the party on the "right track".

Shivpal, who has been at odds with nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, however, made it clear that he was forming just a "front" and not a political party.

"We will constitute the Samajwadi Secular Front on July 6 to bring the SP on the right track. We will formally announce it at a meeting in Lucknow", Shivpal told reporters in Lucknow.

He said that those sidelined in the party will be associated with the front while talks will also be held with other parties in order to make the SP strong.

"SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav will be the national president of the front and I would be its convenor," Shivpal said.

It would be a front and not a political party, he clarified.

"First of all, the family and then the Samajwadi family will be united and this will be possible under the leadership of Netaji (Mulayam). I want to ensure that 'Netaji's' honour is upheld," he said.

The SP has witnessed a prolonged factional fight that began before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections with Akhilesh and Shivpal camps on the opposite sides.

Asked about Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's decision for a probe in the river front project initiated during the SP regime, when he was a minister, Shivpal said, "There were no discrepancies when I was the minister. I don't know what happened later".