Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief Shivpal Yadav on Saturday announced that he will contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Firozabad constituency against his nephew Akshay Yadav, the incumbent MP. "The people of Firozabad want me to contest the Lok Sabha elections from there and so I will contest from Firozabad," Yadav said. The PSP-L founder also asserted that the government at the Centre could only be formed with support from his party.
Shivpal also took a pot-shot at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and said that the former chief minister deceived him even when he did not want any designation in the party.
"I only wanted respect, but I was separated (from the party) as part of a conspiracy. How can we trust a person (Akhilesh Yadav) who has deceived his father and uncle? I had to form the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia out of compulsion," Shivpal said while addressing a Republic Day gathering at a college.
Shivpal Yadav: Batao aise logo pe vishwas kiya ja sakta hai? Jo apne baap aur chacha ko bhi dhoka de, batao kya-kya nahi kiya maine. Padhai se le kar ke, kya-kya nahi kiya maine...Neta Ji ko kon kehta tha ki Mulayam Yadav Ji gundo ke sardar hain, SP mein saare log gunde hain? pic.twitter.com/LTSlkXtm8h
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 26, 2019
Shivpal also mocked the nomenclature of ‘buaa’ given to the BSP supremo by people in Samajwadi Party and otherwise. "Vo hi behen ji hain, na Neta Ji ne behen Ji banaya, na humne behen ji banaya, toh Akhilesh ki bua kahan se ban gain? (Neither me nor my elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav ever considered Mayawati sister. How can Akhilesh call her aunt?" he said.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Yadav: Vo hi behen ji hain, na Neta Ji ne behen Ji banaya, na humne behen ji banaya, toh Akhilesh ki bua kahan se ban gain? Aur batao bua ka koi bharosa hai kahan chali jayen? https://t.co/FOcX3m4InW
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 26, 2019
Earlier, Shivpal’s party got ‘key’ as his party’s election symbol by the election commission. He had formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) in August 2018 after being sidelined in the Samajwadi Party.
The PSP-L has also declared that his party is ready to join hands with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.