Amid SP family feud Shivpal Yadav meets Ajit Singh

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav on Friday met Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh here and said leaders having faith in socialist ideology should come together ahead of next year's assembly polls in the state. Yadav invited Singh for the Samajwadi Party's silver jubilee anniversary event on November 5. "We are inviting secular leaders and parties to attend our party's 25th anniversary programme on November 5," Yadav later told reporters. Yadav, who has been appointed Chief of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, said followers of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh should come together ahead of the assembly elections in the state expected to take place early next year. "We can't let the BJP get a foothold in Uttar Pradesh," the SP leader said. Yadav's meeting with Singh took place amid factional infighting in the Samajwadi Party. Singh said he had accepted the invitation of Yadav and will attend the November 5 programme. Yadav had earlier met Janata Dal-United leaders Sharad Yadav and K.C. Tyagi. Tyagi had later said that Samajwadi Party appeared keen on an alliance for the assembly polls but no talks have been held.