Shivpal Blames Media for Creating Hype Around SP-QED Merger

Varanasi: Accusing the media of creating an "unnecessary" hype around the merger of his party with Quami Ekta Dal, senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav on Wednesday played down reports of his displeasure with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav saying the media wrongly claimed that SP had inducted mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari into its fold.

"We never announced to induct Mukhtar Ansari into the party and only merged with (QED) which has former SP leaders Afzal Ansari and his brother Sibghatullah Ansari in its fold," he said.

"We were always against inducting Mukhtar into Samajwadi Party. The media created an unnecessary hype and wrongly claimed that Mukhtar was inducted into SP," he added.

Shivpal said the merger was announced following an approval from SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who agreed to it to strengthen the party's base in eastern Uttar Pradesh. "But, when the media started wrongly claiming that Mukhtar has been inducted into the party, the leadership was forced to revoke the merger," he added.

The senior SP leader also brushed aside the QED threats of "giving a befitting reply to SP" in the 2017 Assembly polls and claimed his party's base was already much stronger in eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as in other parts of the state and the QED has "no value in front of the giant Samajwadi Party".

Shivpal also questioned the BJP for making such a "hue and cry" over the merger and calling SP a "party of criminals".

"They (BJP) should talk about their own leaders who face criminal charges," he said, adding, "Keshav Prasad Maurya, Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityanath...what about them?"

The state PWD Minister was in Varanasi to inaugurate the district cooperative bank. He also took stock of the Varuna Corridor project being developed by the state government with an aim to revive the dying tributaries of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav said BJP was "doing nothing" to revive the Ganga, adding that SP was dedicated to save the holy river and that is why it has prioritised the Varuna Corridor project.