In an indication of the closing of ranks within the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan, the Samajwadi Party has named ally Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav in the new list of star campaigners. The move comes close on the heel of the Mulayam clan hitting the campaign trail together for the former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in his Karhal Assembly constituency.
Shivpal's name was missing in the list of campaigners released by the Samajwadi Party released ahead of the Assembly elections.
The SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who campaigned for his son in the Karhal constituency, will continue to lead the campaigning for the party in the remaining phases of the seven-phased polls, according to the sources within the alliance parties.
Other prominent names in the new list include party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Kiranmoy Nanda, and Swami Prasad Maurya, who had left the BJP to join the SP weeks ahead of the polls.
However, it's to be seen if the party's strategy of bonding the members of the Mulayam family together will help the SP win the UP turf.
The SP led by Akhilesh Yadav and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) led by Shivpal Singh Yadav are contesting the Assembly polls together, and the alliance has expressed confidence in forming the government in the state.
The BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had taken a jibe at the SP for fielding the party patriarch on the campaign trail in the Karhal constituency.
"They (the SP) are about to lose the seat (Karhal) that they were considering safest. It is getting out of their hands. You must have seen the father (Mulayam Singh Yadav), who was earlier pushed away from the stage, humiliated and his party captured, had to plead to save his son from a certain defeat", PM Modi had said during an election rally in Unnao.
Meanwhile, the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh polls ended with a 61.02 per cent average voter turnout.
The last phase of voting will take place on March 7 and the counting of the votes will be done on March 10.
( With inputs from ANI )
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