Shivpal Yadav says "will fight election" amid confusion over his candidature in UP election
Highlights
- Mr Yadav's name added to list sent by brother Mulayam to nephew Akhilesh
- Meeting being held at Akhilesh Yadav's office to finalise SP candidates
- SP will contest UP election in partnership with Congress
Shivpal Yadav, recently deposed as the Samajwadi Party's Uttar Pradesh chief in a bitter power tussle with his nephew and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has said he will contest next month's assembly elections in the state.
"I will fight the elections," Shivpal Yadav told NDTV this morning. The 61-year-old politician's name was added last night to a list of 38 candidates sent by older brother Mulayam Singh to Akhilesh Yadav, who has been recognised by the Election Commission as the Samajwadi Party's chief and has been allotted use of its cycle symbol.
A meeting is being held today at Akhilesh Yadav's 5 Kalidas Marg office in Lucknow to finalise the Samajwadi Party's candidates for UP. It will contest the election in partnership with the Congress, and has offered a little over a 100 of UP's 403 seats for the ally and any others who join them.
Akhilesh Yadav's party will contest about 300 seats and, sources said, the Chief Minister is expected to accommodate all the 38 people recommended by his father; many of the names, they said, overlap with the son's nominees for those seats.
For months, Shivpal Yadav undermined and challenged the Chief Minister's decisions in a family feud that saw Mulayam Singh consistently back his brother against son Akhilesh.
It resulted in Akhilesh Yadav, 43, overthrowing father and uncle at a party meeting earlier this month, after they released a list of candidates without consulting him. He also challenged them for use of the party name and symbol; the Election Commission said the Chief Minister has proved that he and not his father has the majority support in the Samajwadi Party.
While Akhilesh Yadav has rushed to mend fences with his father, the Election Commission's order has left Shivpal Yadav isolated. Mulayam Singh indicated on Tuesday that he will not launch a new party if his son accommodates his candidates for the UP elections.
In the list of 38 names that he sent to Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav's name was initially missing. Mulayam Singh later revised the list, scratching out the name of Shivpal's son Aditya Yadav, to add his for the Jaswantnagar constituency that he represents.