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Updated: Jan 14, 2019 08:18 IST

Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSPL) president Shivpal Yadav, who has lashed out at Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for her statement that people should not waste their votes by supporting his party, has reached out to the Congress after the SP-BSP sealed their alliance in UP for the Lok Sabha polls.

Calling the SP and the BSP alliance, in which the two parties announced they will contest 38 each of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats, is a ‘Thugbandhan’ (alliance among thugs), Shivpal Yadav told ANI, “This alliance is a ‘Thugbandhan’ and is for money. It is possible that money must have been taken before forging the alliance.”

The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSPL) is ready to form an alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for the coming Lok Sabha elections, he said, adding that no talks have so far been held in this connection. “There have been no talks with the Congress party as yet. The Congress is also a secular party and if it approaches us to defeat the BJP, we will lend our support,” he said.

Shivpal Yadav, who is former Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh’s younger brother, had broken away from the SP and formed his own party in 2018.

Earlier, reacting to Mayawati’s statement, he said it was ironic that a leader who had herself joined hands with the BJP to form the government was accusing him of supporting the saffron party. He also warned his nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati that their alliance in Uttar Pradesh was incomplete without the PSPL. “Only a secular front can defeat the BJP,” he said.

Taking pot shots at Shivpal, Mayawati said the money spent by the BJP to promote him would go to waste.

“Mayawati, who after winning the votes of Dalits, backwards, and Muslims, joined hands with the BJP is now making allegations against me (of being close to the BJP). People are aware as to who made the government with the BJP and how many times. My credentials against communal forces are impeccable. The one who sells election tickets is accusing me of getting financial support from the BJP,” Shivpal said.

“The SP leadership should be aware that she can again join hands with BJP. History repeats itself,” he added.

Chief spokesman of PSPL, CP Rai said, “The SP workers were framed in fake cases during the BSP regime. The SP allied with the party which humiliated Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janeshwar Mishra. This is an alliance of opportunism. Any ‘samajwadi’ will not accept it,” he said.

(With Agency inputs)