2019 LS Polls: Shivpal Yadav ready to ally with Congress in Uttar Pradesh

Shivpal Yadav, Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh’s brother declared on Monday that his party Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) is ready to form an alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Shivpal Yadav

Lucknow: Shivpal Yadav, Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh’s brother declared on Monday that his party Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) is ready to form an alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. "I am in touch with Congress. Talks are on," Shivpal said at India Today conclave. "Without the secular alliance fighting together, the BJP cannot be defeated. We have a very small group," he was quoted as saying. Shivpal Yadav has already shown interest in forming an alliance with any secular party including the Congress to oust BJP out of power in 2019 polls. “No alliance can defeat the BJP without the support of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), Bahujan Mukti Party and our other alliances. We are ready to form an alliance with other secular parties to keep the BJP out of power,” he had said. Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, had formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) in August 2018 after being sidelined from the Samajwadi Party. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati held a joint press conference in Lucknow on Saturday to formally declare their alliance ahead of 2019 General Elections. While addressing the press conference, Yadav told media persons that alliance between SP and BSP was necessary to defeat the communal and castiest parties in the state. The BSP and SP will be contesting the 2019 general elections together in Uttar Pradesh sharing 38 seats each of the 80 in the state. This would be the first time in 26 years that SP and BSP will fight the elections jointly. Last time, it happened in 1993, when Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram came together.