New twist in Yadav family feud: Estranged Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal to float new party after March 11

Etawah: Former Samajwadi Party (SP) state president Shivpal Singh Yadav on Tuesday announced that he would form a new party after the declaration of UP elections results on March 11.

Addressing a rally in Etawah, the younger brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged that he would, however, contest polls for his traditional Jaswantnagar seat in Etawah on the SP ticket. Shivpal filed his nomination papers today.

"I will form a new party after March 11 when results (of UP Assembly Elections) are out," he told his supporters here.

Minutes after the announcement, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said in Etah, around 100 km from here, that those working against the party's interest will not be spared.

He, however, did not take any name.

Indicating that the internal feud in the ruling Samajwadi Party was far from over, Shivpal, who filed his nomination papers for Jaswantnagar Assembly seat in the Yadav bastion here, told a public meeting that he "has been obliged (by Akhilesh Yadav) by getting party ticket...Or else I would have contested as an Independent."

"Many supporters wanted me to contest as Independent...Had that been the case, I would have been free," he said.

Shivpal said he will also campaign for "rebel" SP candidates who will be contesting the polls.

"I will remain solidly behind Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) till my last breath and his humiliation will not be tolerated at any cost," Shivpal said.

"I had told the chief minister that everything is acceptable but not Netaji's humiliation," he said.

Earlier today, Shivpal opined that Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was right in opposing SP-Congress alliance.

Shivpal does not figure in the list of 40 'star campaigners' issued by the SP for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017.

The former PWD Minister, who enjoyed the number two status in the state government, has since fallen from the grace of his nephew and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after a bitter power struggle in the party and the first family.

He has been already axed as the state unit chief and replaced by Akhilesh loyalist Naresh Uttam and been relegated to a virtual nobody in the party.