On Saturday morning, Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav issued a statement, reiterating that he has always said he will vote for anyone who asks him for a vote, in the presidential elections.
On July 6, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, the opposition’s candidate, was in Lucknow. He was felicitated at the Samajwadi Party office. Shivpal Yadav said he had not been invited to the ceremony, and so there was no way he would vote for Sinha.
“In the last election, we were asked to vote for Shri Ram Nath Kovind (the NDA candidate) and we did so. Yesterday (July 8) I was called by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and met Droupadi Murmu. The CM treated us very well. We are no invited for any meetings by the SP.”
Shivpal Yadav said he will not break off his alliance with the SP but will not be a part of any meetings, until he gets a specific invitation. His own party, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) has neither been merged with the SP or wound up.
Shivpal Yadav further said, “If the party would have listened to me and given tickets to the 100 candidates that I had suggested, the results would have been something else.” The SP has 111 seats in the current Vidhan Sabha.
Another ally, Om Prakash Rajbhar, leader of the Suheldav Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), who won six seats in alliance with the SP, has announced that he will announce his party’s choice of the presidential candidate on July 12.
Like Shivpal Yadav, Rajbhar is of the view that while he will not break the alliance with the SP, he is waiting for Akhilesh Yadav to “divorce” him.
There have been rumours that last week Rajbhar attended a dinner at Adityanath’s home. This has been denied by Rajbhar and his sons, but verified by another politician.
Rajbhar was also not invited to Sinha’s felicitation. “Akhilesh might have forgotten me. That is why he did not invite me. We (the SP and the SBSP) will not stay together forcefully if Akhilesh does not want it,” he said.
