Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav said that he was willing to join hands with the Congress to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
To a question on the possibility of a coalition for the coming general election, Yadav said in Bareilly, “We have our party’s organisation in 75 districts of UP. The party has decided to contest all seats against the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. For defeating the BJP, we can also enter into an alliance with the Congress.”
Shivpal stressed that all those talking about forming a morcha to defeat the BJP should also talk to his party as it was ready to deliberate on the issue.
On the controversy over Lord Hanuman, the PSPL chief said, “Lord Hanuman is a God and those who are out to confine him to a particular caste have a very narrow mindset”.
Yadav also reiterated his stand on the Ram temple at Ayodhya, saying that the temple should not be constructed on disputed land.
“There is no dearth of land and a lot of land is lying around the Saryu river in Ayodhya. If the temple is built there, I am also ready to contribute to it. The Supreme Court’s verdict in the matter should not be defied,” he said
The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up a batch of petitions for hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case on January 4.
Since floating the PSPL, Shivpal has been desperately fighting the perception that he and his outfit are a proxy of the BJP and the PSPL was floated with the sole aim of cutting into votes of Samajwadi Party thereby weakening the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
