Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav criticised the arrest of Islamic cleric Maulana Kalim Siddiqui, allegedly involved in religious conversion, in Meerut on Thursday and said that the Yogi Adityanath government was pursuing the politics of vendetta.

He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was harassing its opponents in the state and exhorted all like-minded political parties to come on one platform for the 2022 UP assembly elections to defeat the BJP.

The former Samajwadi Party leader also lashed out at the BJP for the controversy over ‘abbajaan’, saying that it was a respected word and should not be politicised.

Shivpal Yadav, who parted company with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav just before the 2017 UP assembly elections, said that had he been part of the SP during the last polls; it would have been ruling three states, including Uttar Pradesh.

However, he said that his newly floated PSPL, despite having completed just five years of existence, was now ready to fight the upcoming assembly elections. He asserted that the PSPL had built organisational setups in all 75 districts of the state.

However, when questioned on a possible alliance with Samajwadi Party before the state elections, Shivpal Yadav said that this question should be asked from Akhilesh Yadav

Attacking the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, Shivpal claimed that the law and order situation in the state had completely collapsed and people’s woes had become worse due to rising inflation and corruption due to which the BJP government was losing its popularity among the public.