NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party appeared headed for a split, with party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother Shivpal Yadav announcing the formation of a new outfit on Friday, less than two months after the SP suffered a crushing defeat in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.Mulayam will head the new outfit, Samajwadi Secular Morcha, Shivpal said in Etawah, the Yadav family stronghold. Mulayam, who founded the SP in 1992, has yet to react to the announcement. A feud has been simmering in the Yadav family and the SP for over a year now, as former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav gradually took control over the party, much to the dismay of his father Mulayam and uncle Shivpal. While a last-minute patch-up between the father and son averted a split in the party just before the February-March elections, the drubbing in the polls has brought the rift back to the fore. Mulayam, who was unhappy with his son’s decision to enter into an alliance with the Congress, had blamed Akhilesh for the SP’s poor performance in the polls.Shivpal has been demanding restoration of Mulayam’s supremacy in the SP after the party’s defeat in the polls.“For social justice, the Samajwadi Secular Morcha will be formed and Netaji (as Mulayam is referred to) will be its national president,” PTI quoted Shivpal as telling reporters in Etawah.Before making the announcement, Shivpal had a meeting with Mulayam at a relative’s house in Etawah, news agency said.Akhilesh evaded a direct reply in Lucknow when reporters asked him about the development, PTI reported.“I came to know about it through the media,” he said. “If such a front is formed, it is good for the country.”Shivpal’s statement to launch the front has come at a time when SP has started a membership drive. Sources said the party recently asked all its district presidents to send a report on party leaders who were involved in the anti-party activities during the polls.“After getting reports from different districts, SP’s national president might be in position to initiate action against Shivpal and his supporters,” a source said. Shivpal, who virtually ran the SP organisation during Mulayam’s position as its national president, has good support base among party cadres in almost every district of UP. Mulayam had always used him to expand SP’s support base at ground level. While the SP put up a bad show in the state, Shivpal had saved his traditional Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah district.