Will form new front if Akhilesh doesn't hand party reins to Mulayam: Shivpal

Etawah (UP): Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav today threatened to form a new secular front if Akhilesh Yadav did not hand over the reins of the party to Mulayam Singh Yadav.

“Akhilesh had promised to hand over the party to ‘netaji’ (Mulayam). He should now do so and we all will strengthen the SP. I had also given him three months’ time. Otherwise, I will constitute a new secular front,” Shivpal told reporters here.

Shivpal had recently said he would soon launch a campaign to unite “samajwadis” (socialists) to bring them on a single platform. The Samajwadi Party had witnessed a bitter feud between uncle Shivpal and nephew former chief minister Akhilesh in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

The Samajwadi party contested the polls under Akhilesh’s leadership but suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP. After filing his nomination for the state polls in January, Shivpal had said he would form a new party after the election results are declared.

But, subsequently he had said there was no such move.