Quami Ekta Dal Chief Afzal Ansari Meets Mulayam Singh, Announces Joint Rally

Lucknow: Two days after the formal declaration of Quami Ekta Dal's merger with Samajwadi Party, its president Afzal Ansari today met Mulayam Singh Yadav and announced a major rally with the SP chief in Ghazipur next month.

"A meeting was held with the SP chief Mulayam Singhji in a very cordial atmosphere and a decision has been taken to hold a rally in Mohamadabad area of Ghazipur in November," said Afzal, the elder brother of mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.

"The date of the rally will be decided after Diwali," Mr Afzal said.

Asked how many QED members would contest the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, he said since his party had now merged with the Samajwadi Party, any decision in this regard would be taken by the SP leadership. He said his brother would contest elections from the Mau seat for the SP.

"We have already started working as Samajwadi Party workers," Mr Afzal said.

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On Thursday, the Samajwadi Party's state unit president Shivpal Singh Yadav had cleared the air over the merger with the QED.

"QED has already merged with SP. Netaji (Mulayam) has already made a statement in this regard in the media. His decision in final," Shivpal Yadav had said.

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The SP-QED merger was announced in June in the presence of Shivpal Yadav but as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was the party's state president then, was reportedly against the move, it was called off by the party's state parliamentary board a few days later.

Speculation is rife that the formal announcement of the merger again by Shivpal Yadav might create fresh problems within Yadav family, as Akhilesh Yadav is said to be against it.