The feud in the family of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav surfaced again on Friday, with his brother and senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav announcing that a "secular morcha" will be formed under the leadership of Mr. Mulayam.
"A secular morcha will be formed for social justice. And Netaji [Mr. Mulayam] will be its national president," Mr. Shivpal told reporters after a meeting with Mr. Mulayam in Etawah.
Mr. Shivpal's statement comes days after he handed an ultimatum to his nephew and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, to hand over the top post of the party to his father, Mr. Mulayam, within three months.
While making the announcement, Mr. Shivpal, however, was vague. He did not mention if it amounted to a separate party or merely a front within the party.
Later, speaking to a Hindi news channel over the telephone, Mr. Shivpal reportedly said the morcha would bring all socialists and secular people under one roof. "Will bring together all the scattered socialists under Mr. Mulayam. We are in touch with some leaders."
The morcha would work to strengthen the SP and no strategy was formed yet on fighting elections, he reportedly said.
SP Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal hit out at Mr. Shivpal, saying if the latter wants to form a morcha, he should resign from the SP first.
"Mr. Shivpal is confused. He does not know what he wants to do," a television channel quoted Mr. Agarwal as saying.
Shivpal’s nephew and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav welcomed the idea of a secular front but denied having knowledge of it. “Samajwadi people are always ready to take a test and they also pass those tests. Secular front should indeed come up,” Mr. Yadav told a channel here on the sidelines of a function of the SP’s cultural cell.
In yet another sign of his bitterness towards Mr. Shivpal, Mr. Akhilesh, without taking any names, also made a jibe at his uncle. “We are political people. We know how to identify an asteen ka saanp (snake hiding under the sleeves),” he said.
