Decision on new morcha with Azam Khan later: Shivpal Yadav

Amid a widening rift with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, senior socialist leader Shivpal Singh Yadav on Friday did not rule out forming a front with jailed SP leader Azam Khan. When asked by a reporter about the chances of him and Khan forming a new morcha, Yadav said, “A decision on this will be taken at the right time… after he comes out of jail.”

He said he will discuss the matter with party leaders after Eid.

Azam Khan’s bail plea is expected to come up in the Supreme Court on May 2. The 10-time MLA from Rampur Sadar is in Sitapur jail for over the past two years in connection with multiple cases.

Talking to media after inaugurating a petrol pump, Shivpal Yadav reiterated that he was not joining the BJP. He had earlier hit out at Akhilesh’s remarks alluding to the former’s apparent closeness to the ruling BJP, and dared the SP chief to expel him from the legislature party.

“Under his leadership, the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) approach of launching a struggle for people’s causes is nowhere to be seen today,” he said in an apparent dig at Akhilesh.

Shivpal, who is Akhilesh’s uncle and heads his own Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) (PSPL), won the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on an SP ticket.

Speaking in favour of Azam Khan, the PSPL chief said he is being harassed over “small cases”.

Shivpal, who visited Khan in Sitapur jail last Friday, also rued that the Samajwadi Party under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav should have agitated in parliament on the Azam Khan issue.

“Had Mulayam Singh Yadav sat on a dharna in front of the Lok Sabha on the Azam Khan issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has tremendous respect for Neta Ji would have heard him out sympathetically,” he claimed.

Azam Khan had recently quit as the Lok Sabha MP from Rampur after being elected as an MLA from his native Rampur sadar seat.