New Delhi: Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) founder Shivpal Singh Yadav has joined back Samajwadi Party, sources told ABP News. The development comes amid party's lead in Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypolls which were necessitated by the demise of Samajwadi Party patron and Shivpal's elder brother, Mulayam Singh Yadav.
After difference of opinion with his nephew and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in September 2018, Shivpal Yadav decided to part ways with SP and formed his own party, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) on August 29, 2018. The party was registered as a political party with the Election Commission with camp office and permanent office in Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow.
As Dimple Yadav, Mulayam Singh's daughter-in-law, fielded by the party took a comfortable lead in Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypolls, Shivpal Singh Yadav on Thursday said the party is heading for a big victory as the entire family contested the bypoll unitedly.
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"The entire family unitedly contested the bypoll due to which we are heading for a big victory. In all future elections, the family (Yadav family) will remain united and contest together," he told reporters in Mainpuri, reported news agency PTI.
Soon after Dimple Yadav, the wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, took a lead of over one lakh votes over her BJP rival, Shivpal Yadav visited his brother and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's memorial in Mainpuri and paid floral tributes to him, the report added.
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Shivpal Yadav said his Jaswant Nagar constituency, which lies in Mainpuri parliamentary constituency, has broken the past record when it gave over 90,000 lead to 'netaji' (Mulayam) He said this is the victory of the "ideals of netaji' and development works carried out by him.
"Netaji's 'jalwa' (influence) is still continuing," he said, adding, "The victory margin here (Mainpuri) will be over two lakh".
(With inputs from PTI)