In an apparent climbdown, Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said he never demanded the party ticket for his son Aditya Yadav from the Budaun Lok Sabha seat.
The SP has named Shivpal Yadav as its candidate from Budaun Lok Sabha seat. He, however, wanted his son to be fielded from this seat, which was declined by his nephew and party president Akhilesh Yadav. Budaun is going to polls in the third phase on May 7.
Shivpal and Akhilesh Yadav are said to have been at loggerheads ever since the former became the chief minister of UP in March 2012. Shivpal Yadav floated his own political party, Pragatisheel Samaj Party (Lohia) in April 2017. However, there was a patch-up between the two after the death of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in October 2022.
On Tuesday, Shivpal blamed his political rivals, claiming “the controversy is being unnecessarily generated by my rivals. It is for the party and the people to decide who will contest from Budaun.”
“I have been named as a candidate and as long as the party does not change its mind, I am contesting from Budaun,” Shivpal said.
Upset over reports of a ‘tussle’ between him and Akhilesh over the Budaun seat, Shivpal said on Tuesday, “For us, every seat is a family seat – whether it is Budaun, Azamgarh, Mainpuri or Kannauj. There is no tussle whatsoever. Some people wanted Aditya to contest from Budaun and sent a letter to the party president which triggered speculations.”
Shivpal vehemently denied talks that Budaun was no longer ‘safe’ for the family after senior leaders like former MP Saleem Sherwani and former MLA Abid Raza quit.
“I have excellent personal relations with both of them and I am confident of their support. Neither of them is contesting the elections and they will be with us,” he said.
About reports that Akhilesh Yadav was not keen on campaigning for him in Budaun, Shivpal said, “We have planned at least two public meetings. One will be in Budaun and the other in Gunnaur. The schedule of the two meetings will be decided by the party president in line with his other engagements.”
He further said that though he would be contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the second time, he had been closely and actively associated with the preparations since 1996 when ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav) contested his first Lok Sabha election from Mainpuri.
“I contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls under extremely odd conditions — the family feud was at its peak — as PSPL president from Firozabad. This pitch is not new to me. I have seen all 80 Lok Sabha seats and 403 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh personally,” he explained.
Reminiscing about his elder brother Mulayam, Shivpal said: “This will be the first Lok Sabha elections when ‘Netaji’ is not around. His presence is being missed by all — the family, party workers and the people. However, this has also strengthened our resolve to battle against divisive forces and uphold his values and ideology.”
Asked to comment on the controversy over Akhilesh’s visit to the family of Mukhtar Ansari, who died last month, Shivpal said, “Mukhtar died under suspicious circumstances. He belongs to an illustrious family and we have known them for years. What is wrong in offering condolences to the family? It is shameful how some people do not even know how to respect the dead.”
