Shivpal's party hits back at Mayawati after her anti-PSPL barb

Peeved over Mayawati's accusation that it was being run by the BJP, Shivpal Yadav's party hit back at the BSP chief on Saturday, saying everyone knew who had formed the government with the saffron party earlier.

"The allegation against Shivpalji is baseless. Everyone in the state knows who formed the government with the BJP, and which party sells ticket and is involved in corruption. Shivpal's fight against communalism is four-decade old," Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief spokesperson C P Rai said.

Addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav here earlier in the day, Mayawati asked the party cadre "to not waste their vote on his (Shivpal's) party, (which is) funded by the BJP".

"The BJP's money will go down the drain as it is running Shivpal's party," she said, while Akhilesh Yadav did not say anything about the party floated recently by his feuding uncle.

Rai said Akhilesh Yadav should understand that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had earlier taken the votes of Dalits, Other Backward Class (OBC) and Muslims, and went with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), adding "history can be repeated".

"The SP workers were framed in fake cases during the BSP regime. The SP allied with the party which humiliated Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janeshwar Mishra. This is an alliance of opportunism. Any 'samajwadi' will not accept it," he said.