Cracks in Samajwadi Party over grand alliance issue

Lucknow: Possibility of a Grand Alliance in Uttar Pradesh may still be a speck on the political horizon but the issue has started developing cracks in the ruling Samajwadi Party which, for the first time, is speaking in conflicting voices on the subject.

There is a clear difference of opinion between the party leaders and workers with the latter favouring a secular alliance to crush communal forces.

UP chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, on Sunday, had indicated that a Grand Alliance could be possible in UP but a few hours later, he changed his mind and announced that the SP would contest the 2017 polls on its own and return to power with a majority on the strength of the development work it had done. He also ruled out any truck with the BSP.

UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, meanwhile, promoted the idea of an alliance with ‘like-minded socialist forces’.

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