Uttar Pradesh: Shivpal Yadav terms SP politically immature; Akhilesh Yadav calls it BJP’s ploy to evade real issues

LUCKNOW: Calling Samajwadi Party’s official memo issued to him as the certificate of the party’s “political immaturity”, Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of SP president Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday dared his nephew to sack him from the SP legislature party in the state assembly.
Hitting back, Akhilesh described Shivpal’s attack as a part of BJP’s “divide and rule policy” to ensure that the opposition remains engaged in such blame games and no one asks questions on price rise and lawlessness.
The latest bout of attacks and counter-attacks between ‘chacha’ and ‘bhatija’ began with the Samajwadi Party serving an office memo on Shivpal after he voted in favour of the BJP candidate, Droupadi Murmu, in the presidential poll.

In the memo, SP had “set free” Shivpal to join ranks with whichever political banner he wanted to. Though Shivpal took to twitter to respond to the memo a couple of hours later, he spoke to the media on the issue for the first time on Tuesday.
“I came to know that I have been officially set free. In a way I always had that freedom (as no one can bind me),” Shivpal said, adding that the SP memo is only a proof of “political immaturity”.
Asked if he was referring to the SP chief, Shivpal said, "Look where the party has come from where it was when we left it. Had it not been for this political immaturity, SP would have won the 2022 assembly polls and Akhilesh Yadav would have been the chief minister of UP."

"If the party wants to set me free, why am I not being chucked out of the SP legislature party in the assembly or even the party for that matter," he asked.
When asked to comment on Shivpal’s statements, Akhilesh described it as a ploy of the BJP to keep the opposition engrossed in charges and counter charges so that no one could question the government about price rise and deteriorating law and order.
“This is the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the BJP. They are not only dividing people on caste and communal lines but also the opposition … and this is exactly why they do it,” he said, responding to a media query in Kannauj.
Responding to Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar being quoted in media reports of his attempt to stitch an alliance with Shivpal and other political parties in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Shivpal said the two had surely met but described the meeting as a courtesy call. “If there is anything more to it, the media will come to know,” he said.