Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav. (Image: PTI)
He also said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has always emerged stronger whenever his party faces such crisis, and compared Pawar’s style of functioning to that of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav on Tuesday rejected SBSP chief OP Rajbhar’s claim that several SP MLAs are thinking of defecting on the lines of the recent Maharashtra developments.
He also said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has always emerged stronger whenever his party faced such crisis, and compared Pawar’s style of functioning to that of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“His (Sharad Pawar’s) working style is like that of ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav). And as far as I know him, he’s never given up or felt scared. Whenever elections are held in Maharashtra, he will emerge strong and win the elections with a majority,” Yadav told PTI when asked about the political developments in Maharashtra.
The veteran SP leader said the BJP “wants to destroy the opposition parties, but they will unite to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections”.
Yadav’s comments come days after political turmoil in Maharashtra saw a split in the NCP and party chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government.
On Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Rajbhar’s recent claims that many (SP) MLAs are in touch with him and there will be a Maharashtra-like political coup in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav said, “You know him (Rajbhar) very well. He has always been in touch with the BJP…whenever elections come, his shop moves.”
When asked that Nishad party chief Sanjay Nishad is saying that if Shivpal Yadav is willing to be a part of the NDA, he is welcome, to which Yadav said, “I have not met Sanjay Nishad. But, we know BJP very well. A senior BJP leader was in touch with me. But, we are ‘socialists’ and they (BJP) will not be able to shake us.”
When asked about the upcoming meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru, he said, “The opposition will unite in a stronger way.”
Attacking the BJP, Yadav said that the saffron party has not done any development for the state or the country. “BJP leaders spread corruption. They have only created problems in front of the public.”
When asked about BJP leaders’ claim that he did not get the place he deserves in the SP, Yadav said, “We are together. Earlier, we all worked with ‘Netaji’, and we have started working together once again. The SP will fight the (Lok Sabha) elections in 2024 strongly and defeat the BJP.”
After being at loggerheads with his nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav since 2017 and launching their own political outfit, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) in 2019, Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav have decided to patch up their differences just ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. decided.
Shivpal Yadav contested the 2022 assembly elections on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,