Shivpal Singh Yadav announces party, Mulayam to lead

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party faced a fresh crisis on Friday when senior parry MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav announced that he would soon form a new ‘Samajwadi Secular Morcha’ with Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav at its head.

The announcement comes a day after Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had told mediapersons that sycophants and arrogance was responsible for the defeat of the SP in recent assembly elections.

Mr Shivpal Yadav said that he was contacting all former SP leaders and also those who had left the party in recent months. This is the second major jolt to Mr Akhilesh in a week. Five days ago, the Congress had parted ways with SP when UPCC president Raj Babbar announced that his party would contest the upcoming municipal elections on its own. The formation of this party will also be a setback to efforts by the opposition parties to form a joint front against BJP because Mr Mulayam said he will never agree to an alliance.

Though it may still be early to term the development as a formal split as it is not yet known how many SP leaders would join Mr Mulayam.