Shivpal Yadav to challenge Akshay Yadav for Firozabad seat, forges alliance with Peace Party

Samajwadi Party rebel and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief, Shivpal Yadav, on Tuesday released the first list of 31 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. According to the list released by the party, Shivpal will contest from the Firozabad seat, which has been a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party. 

Shivpal will go head-to-head against his nephew Akshay Yadav in the Lok Sabha elections. Akshay Yadav is the sitting MP from the seat, which has been won five times by the SP since 1999. The Congress, which won the by-election from Firozabad in 2009 after Akhilesh Yadav vacated the seat, has decided to not contest from here this time around. 

Shivpal Yadav, who is still a Samajwadi Party MLA from Jaswantnagar seat, had formed a separate political outfit ‘Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party’ after he alleged that he was not getting due ‘respect’ in the party. The party had earlier claimed that PSP enjoys the support of 64 parties.  

आम लोकसभा चुनाव 2019 के उत्तर प्रदेश के 31 प्रत्याशियों की सूची । pic.twitter.com/EOO7oXilaE

— Shivpal Singh Yadav (@shivpalsinghyad) March 19, 2019

Shivpal Yadav’s party PSPL has fielded six Muslim and six Yadav candidates for the Lok Sabha Polls as it looks to cut the SP-BSP alliance votes.

Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) claimed it has the support of the Apna Dal faction led by Krishna Patel, days after that party announced a tie-up with the Congress.The PSP-L also announced a pact with Mohamed Ayub-led Peace Party in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls. The Apna Dal faction, however, has not made clear whom it will support if both the Congress and Shivpal Yadav's party are contesting in the same constituency.  

While the PSP-L said it is not averse to an alliance with the Congress as well to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  When contacted, Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) spokesperson R B S Patel parried a direct reply.  "We have a pact for seats with the Congress but we are giving policy-based support to all secular and like-minded parties," he said, without elaborating further.   

At a press conference here, Shivpal Yadav, who was flanked by Peace Party leader Mohamed Ayub, said, "We have entered into an alliance with the Peace Party."He later announced "support" from the Apna Dal faction as well.Asked if the Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) will support the PSP-L or the Congress candidates contesting from the same seat, PSP-L spokesperson Deepak Mishra said, "I know that they (Apna Dal) have supported our party. We have got a support letter from them."   

The Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) had on Saturday sealed an alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. As part of the seat-sharing agreement, it was allocated two parliamentary constituencies --- Basti and Pilibhit.Soon after the finalisation of the alliance, Patel's son-in-law Pankaj Niranjan Singh Chandel joined the Congress in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi.  

BJP has finalised a seat sharing deal with the Apna Dal (Sone Lal), the other faction of the party led by Anupriya Patel, a minister in the Narendra Modi government.The Anupriya Patel faction will contest on two seats. The Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) is led by its founder and widow of Sone Lal Patel-- a regional leader of Patels who had died in a car crash in 2009.

The party later split between his widow and elder daughter. On whether the PSP-L can enter into an alliance with the Congress, Mishra said, "All possibilities are there. For defeating the BJP, we are ready for everything." 

Earlier, Shivpal Yadav  said, "The BJP government in the state is the worst ever which cheated farmers, youths, minorities and backwards.""It's unfortunate that due to self interest of SP, BSP and Congress an alliance could not be formed against BJP. These parties have weakened the fight (against the BJP) and are doing politics instead of fighting for the common man," he said