SP buckling under its alliance with Congress for UP polls

After Mulayam expressed his displeasure over alliance, Shivpal threatens to float new party

Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi, Hugs, Congress, SP — Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hugs Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during their joint press conference in Lucknow.

Last Updated : Feb 10 2017 | 8:09 PM IST

The pre-poll pact between Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress to consolidate their vote bank and jointly keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) away from power in Uttar Pradesh has already started to take its toll on the ruling party.

While, deposed SP president and patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has spoken sternly against the SP-Congress alliance and announced he would not campaign for the party candidates, his younger brother and sacked UP cabinet minister Shivpal Singh Yadav on Tuesday announced that he would float a new political outfit after March 11, when the poll results would be out.

Besides, two senior SP leaders and former UP ministers Ambika Chaudhary and Narad Rai have deserted the party to join Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and have been rewarded tickets from different constituencies in Ballia district.

Addressing a public meeting after filing his nomination papers from Jaswantnagar Assembly constituency in Etawah district in the afternoon, Shivpal said he would have contested the polls as an independent candidate, if the party had denied him the ticket.

He claimed the tickets of his supporters had been cancelled under a conspiracy to weaken him politically.

Mulayam, who is staying put in the national capital for the Budget Session of Parliament, had expressed anguish over the SP-Congress pact saying it would prove detrimental to the ruling party, since SP was capable of winning UP polls on its own without bringing Congress on board.

He lamented that due to the tie-up, the SP leaders who had been looking forward to contesting the elections had been left in the lurch, which had demoralised the party workers and cadres.

Meanwhile, several SP leaders who have been denied party tickets to accommodate the Congress quota of 105 seats or for their apparent proximity to disgruntled party faction represented by Mulayam and Shivpal, have openly revolted at several constituencies and fighting polls as independents.

Such disgruntled SP leaders fighting polls as independents, include state minister Sharda Pratap Shukla, who has filed twin nomination papers as independents and a nominee of the Ajit Singh led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) from Lucknow.

SP, which had won 224 seats in 2012 UP polls, is fighting 298 seats, leaving 105 seats for Congress, which had won only 28 seats then.