Opposition Politician Shivpal Yadav Merges His Outfit With Samajwadi Party

© Photo : Twitter/@shivpalsinghyadShivpal Singh Yadav
Shivpal Singh Yadav
 - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.12.2022
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Shivpal Yadav parted ways with the Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2016 following differences with party chief Akhilesh Yadav. He later went on to form his own outfit.
In a major development that would have a huge impact on the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh, Shivpal Yadav, the chief of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohiya (PSPL), on Thursday merged his political outfit into Samajwadi Party, the state's main opposition force.
The merger of the two parties was announced by Shivpal Yadav and his nephew and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav at their ancestral Saifai village in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh.

"We have merged Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) into Samajwadi Party. In 2024, we will fight unitedly. From today, there will be a Samajwadi Party flag (on the car)," Shivpal Yadav told reporters at the Yadav family home in Saifai.

The merger came hours after a Samajwadi Party candidate, Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav won the byelections to the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency in the state by more than 288,000 votes. She defeated the BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya in the polls.
SP's victory in Mainpuri was crucial for the party, considering the community has long been considered its home. In the past, the former SP chief, Akhilesh Yadav's father Mulayam Singh Yadav won multiple elections from the constituency. Mulayam Singh passed away at the age of 82 in October, necessitating the by-poll.
Coming back to Shivpal Yadav, before his departure from the Samajwadi Party, he was considered No.3 in the party behind Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav. That's why it is believed that his return will strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh where it has been losing ground to the BJP of late.
After being in power in India's largest state from 2012 to 2017, the SP has suffered a series of defeats at the hands of the BJP both in the parliamentary and the state polls. It all began in 2014 when riding on the Narendra Modi wave, the BJP and its allies won a staggering 73 of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP then ousted the SP from power in the state in 2017 before retaining its hold on Uttar Pradesh by forming the government for the second consecutive term earlier this year under the leadership of Hindu monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath.
In Samajwadi Party circles, Shivpal Yadav is known to have a grassroots connection with its workers, something the foreign-educated Akhilesh seems to lack.
That's why Shivpal Yadav's return to the party fold appears to augur well for the SP. But only time will tell if he could help the Samajwadi Party in regaining the ground it has ceded to the BJP in the last 8 years.
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