Samajwadi Party splits : Shivpal Yadav to form Samajwadi Secular Morcha headed by Mulayam

LUCKNOW: Fissures in the Samajwadi Party today resurfaced with senior leader Shivpal Yadav declaring that his brother Mulayam Singh Yadav will head a secular front to be formed by him.

Shivpal, who retained the Jaswantnagar Assembly seat during the recent elections, had recently given an ultimatum that the secular front would be formed if Akhilesh Yadav did not hand over the reins of the party back to his father Mulayam in three months.

"For social justice, 'Samajwadi Secular Morcha' will be formed. Netaji (Mulayam) will be its National President,"

Shivpal had been saying that he would soon launch a campaign to unite "samajwadis" (socialists) to bring them on a single platform.

"Akhilesh had promised to hand over the party to 'netaji' (Mulayam). He should do so now and we all will strengthen the SP. I had also given him three months' time. Otherwise, I will constitute a new secular front," Shivpal had said on Wednesday.

Shivpal had earlier replaced Akhilesh as the state unit chief following which Akhilesh removed Shivpal from the state cabinet.

The Samajwadi Party contested the polls under Akhilesh's leadership but suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP.

Shivpal had recently said, "We will not let the legacy of 'samajwad' (socialism) to weaken and will soon launch a campaign to unite socialists to bring them on one platform."

But, Akhilesh confidant Ram Gopal Yadav had said a few days back that the Shivpal should read the constitution of SP before seeking resignation of Akhilesh.

Ram Gopal had said that Akhilesh would not resign under any circumstances and that there was no question of handing over the party to Mulayam.