Ready For "Unconditional Merger" With Samajwadi Party: Shivpal Yadav

Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) chief Shivpal Yadav today said he was ready for his party's "merger" with the Samajwadi Party if its president Akhilesh Yadav agrees to field PSPL's winning candidates in the assembly polls.

Shivpal Yadav has sought a merger or alliance of his party with the Samajwadi Party several times, the latest being on Tuesday in Barabanki, saying that Akhilesh Yadav should decide on an alliance or merger without delay.

"We are ready for any sacrifice to remove the BJP from power. If Akhilesh Yadav gives tickets to our winning candidates, we are ready for any sacrifice, including an unconditional merger with the SP," Shivpal Yadav said, while participating in his party's Samajik Parivartan Yatra.

Samajwadi founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother Shivpal Yadav had been trying to patch up with his nephew Akhilesh Yadav for a long time but he has not got any clear response from the SP.

Talking of the Lakhimpur incident, the PSPL chief said it is clear now from the Forensic Science Lab report that Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra had opened fire.

Accordingly, the minister should be immediately sacked, he demanded.

Attacking the BJP, he said the party has not fulfilled its promises and crime and corruption have reached its peak in the present regime.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)