Shivpal calls Akhilesh immature, decides to support Murmu

The upcoming presidential poll is a litmus test for Opposition unity. In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav on Saturday announced his support for BJP-led NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. He criticized Akhilesh over his “immaturity”, which, he claimed, has weakened the party. Shivpal on Friday attended a dinner hosted by chief minister Yogi Adityanath for Droupadi Murmu, nominated by the ruling NDA for the July 18 presidential elections. The decision came after Shivpal Singh Yadav and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, a key ally of the Samajwadi Party, attended a dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in Lucknow. "Neither Samajwadi Party called me, nor asked for my vote. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath invited me yesterday where I met NDA's Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu and decided to vote for her," Shivpal Yadav was quoted by a news agency. 

“It seems that because of political immaturity, the party is getting weaker. A lot of people are leaving. If our suggestions had been heeded, the Samajwadi Party would have been in a better situation,” he said. Shivpal Yadav had contested and won from the Jaswantnagar assembly seat in the February-March Uttar Pradesh elections amid assumptions that his differences with Akhilesh had been settled. The two leaders had a bitter fallout over control of the party before the 2017 assembly elections. Yadav, who heads the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia, is currently an MLA from Jaswant Nagar, the seat he won contesting on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party.  Jansatta Dal leader Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, and BSP leader Uma Shankar Singh announced that they will be voting for Murmu.