"QED is today merging with SP which would strengthen the party," SP spokesman and senior Cabinet Minister Shivpal Yadav said.
"We have merged as we did not want to act like vote cutters in assembly polls," said QED President Afzal Ansari whose party has two MLAs -- Mukhtar Ansari and Sigbatullaha Ansari. Both are Afzal's brothers.
The QED had in a meeting in Ghazipur on Saturday decided that "like-minded parties" should come on a common platform to deal with "communal forces".
Interestingly, Shivpal suggested that Mukhtar Ansari was not among those who had joined SP.
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"At present only those here are joining SP. We did not have any talks with Mukthar," he said.
The merger of QED with SP is expected to give fresh ammunition to the opposition parties to target Samajwadi Party which has often been accused of protecting hooligans.
"This is nothing new. Samajwadi Party is trying all means to get back to power in the next elections," BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak reportedly said.
Asked about non-inclusion of controversial West UP leader DP Yadav due to his criminal background in 2012, Shivpal said the party did not even want to hear names of those involved in criminal activities.
On the occasion, Afzal Ansari accused the Narendra Modi government of not fulfilling the promises made during the elections.
"Two years of Narendra Modi government are a failure and the issues raised by the BJP during polls to befool people were not taken care of after the formation of the government. There is an attempt to vitiate atmosphere and brotherhood in the society and malign the image of UP government," Afzal Ansari said.