The much imminent split in the Samajwadi Party materialised on Friday, with senior party leader Shivpal Yadav announcing that his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav would head the Samajwadi Secular Morcha, to be guided by the tenets of social justice and secularism.
Both Mulayam and Shivpal were upset with Akhilesh Yadav for having a seat adjustment with the Congress in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. After the SP’s disastrous showing in the polls, Akhilesh, who had displaced his father as the head of the party, faced strident criticism for having jettisoned the party’s anti-Congressism.
The new front offers Mulayam