Holding out an open threat of sabotage, Shivpal Singh Yadav today said he would campaign for Samajwadi Party rebels in the assembly election and float a new party after the polls, soon after filing his nomination as an SP candidate.
The defiant declaration from Shivpal came days after Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav voiced his displeasure over the SP-Congress alliance and said he would not campaign for it.
"You make the government, we will make a new party after March 11," Shivpal, the estranged uncle of SP president and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said, drawing a sharp retort from his nephew who warned in Etah that those working against the party will not be spared.
On the campaign trail, Akhilesh, despite voicing displeasure over Shivpal's statement, chose not to announce action against his uncle and precipitate a fresh crisis in the party, yet to recover from the trauma of estrangement between Mulayam and his son, who got the mantle of SP president after the Election Commission settled the intra-party dispute over its control in his favour.
Addressing an election rally in Sikandaru, Akhilesh claimed he had the "blessings of Netaji (Mulayam)" and that "the entire family is one".
"There was a lot of speculation but I have for now filed my nomination papers as a Samajwadi Party candidate. But where will my people go?
"Where will those who toiled hard for SP for the last five years go? They are contesting in some places and the rest doing nothing," Shivpal said and went on to assert he will campaign for the "rebels" fighting against official nominees of SP-Congress alliance.
Shivpal's assertion, political analysts claim, could go against the SP-Congress combine, which has been hoping for a solid consolidation of Muslim voters in its favour.
Muslims, who had for decades since independence stood rock solid behind the Congress, drifted away from it and backed Mulayam's party in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition.
A three-way split in Muslim votes--among Mulayam loyalists, SP-Congress combine and Mayawati's BSP--would benefit BJP, which is seeking to storm back to power in the key cow belt state after a hiatus of 15 years.
If Shivpal carries out the threat and campaigns for the rebels, it would also create confusion among SP's Yadav vote bank.
61-year-old Shivpal said he had entered the fray on an SP ticket going against his supporters who wanted him to contest as an independent.
He attacked Akhilesh over Mulayam's "humiliation", which he asserted "will not be tolerated".
Shivpal, who got the ticket after Mulayam intervened, said those who acknowledged "Netaji led the party's rise have now publicly humiliated him. I repeatedly requested Akhilesh not to insult Mulayam Singh but he did not listen.
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