Silent on Akhilesh, Shivpal Yadav congratulates SP workers for Lok Sabha bypoll victory in UP

Lucknow: Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav on Thursday congratulated his party workers for bypoll victory in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.

Shivpal, who is SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother and uncle of former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, took to Twitter to congratulate his party workers.

समाजवादी पार्टी की ऐतिहासिक विजय पर फूलपुर एवं गोरखपुर संसदीय क्षेत्र की जनता, समाजवादी पार्टी के कुशल नेतृत्व, कर्मठ कार्यकर्ताओं एवं विजयी प्रत्याशियों को बहुत-बहुत बधाई । कड़ी मेहनत व सामाजिक न्याय की साझी जमीन पर लिखी गई यह खूबसूरत कहानी मील का पत्थर साबित हो, ऐसी मंगल कामना।

— Shivpal Singh Yadav (@shivpalsinghyad) March 15, 2018

While Shivpal praised the SP leadership for the victory in the crucial Lok Sabha bypolls, he stayed mum on his nephew Akhilesh Yadav under whose leadership the party managed to defeat BJP which is currently in power in the state.

Shivpal's congratulatory tweet came several months after he was locked in a bitter struggle for power with his nephew Akhilesh Yadav. 

Akhilesh Yadav had on Wednesday called his party’s win in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections as a victory of social justice, saying the verdict of the people shows that they are angry with the BJP. 

Thanking Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for its support in the bypolls, Yadav said, "Our Dalit brothers helped us secure a victory".

The former chief minister also used the opportunity to lash out at UP CM Yogi Aditayanth and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the BJP of making false promises to people. "If people in those areas are so angry with them, just imagine the situation when elections are held across the country," Yadav said.

He further accused the BJP of not respecting the law of the land and the Constitution. 

"BJP will now have to move from the path of destruction to development,” he said, adding that the ruling party was "causing harm to the country and spreading hatred". "In the pretext of nationalism, they cheat people," he added.

The Samajwadi Party leader also recalled a recent statement by CM Adityanath made in the UP Assembly on his not celebrating Eid. "He (Yogi Adityanath) said on the floor of the House that I am a Hindu and I don’t celebrate Eid, he said sentences like 'encounter kar do’ on the floor of the House. They are spreading hatred," he said.

Referring to assurances of the BJP before the elections, Yadav said that they did not fulfill any of their promises.

In a huge blow to the ruling BJP, the Samajwadi Party won both the Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur which were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had backed its bitter rival the SP. 

The SP candidate in Gorakhpur, Pravin Nishad defeated his nearest rival Upendra Dutt Shukla (BJP). In Phulpur too, the SP candidate, Nagendra Singh Patel, defeated its nearest rival Kaushlendra Singh Patel of BJP.

In 2014, the BJP stunningly won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats while one of its allies secured two.

The SP had won from five seats. The Congress and BSP had drawn a blank.

(With Agency inputs)