As parties gear up ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls, in a latest political development, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said that he will ally with his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) in the 2022 Assembly elections.
Addressing reporters here, Akhilesh Yadav said that SP would also enter into alliances with smaller parties.
Asked whether he would give respect to his uncle, Akhilesh Yadav said that Shivpal Yadav would get full respect in the alliance. Akhilesh Yadav's statement is expected to put an end of five years of strife between him and his uncle.
While Shivpal Yadav had been consistently seeking an alliance with SP, Akhilesh Yadav had remained non-committal on the issue.
Initially, he had offered only one seat -Jaswantnagar-for Shivpal.
Akhilesh Yadav's statement comes a day after Shivpa Yadav said that he would even consider merging his party with the SP if his supporters were given due respect.
Shivpal told reporters in Aligarh on Monday night that he wanted not only himself, but also his workers and supporters to be treated with dignity and respect if the SP wants to take him in.
"When I was in SP, the party used to work on the ground while in the current scenario leaders working in an office," he said.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Minister Anand Swarup Shukla has alleged that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav enjoys the patronage of Pakistan spy agency ISI and said he may even go for religious conversion to appease Muslims.
He may also be getting economic support from the neighbouring country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the minister alleged on Tuesday.
(with agency inputs)
