In a fresh twist to the reported differences with his nephew and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) Shivpal Yadav met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Wednesday. The meeting took place at the CM’s residence and lasted for about 20 minutes. It assumes significance as it was held in the backdrop of Shivpal's criticising the SP for not inviting him to the Legislature Party meeting, in which Akhilesh was elected the party leader, four days ago. Akhilesh had invited Shivpal along with his alliance partners — Om Prakash Rajbhar, Pallavi Patel and Rajpal Balyan — for a meeting at the SP office on March 29, which Shivpal did not attend. Although Shivpal remained tight-lipped after his meeting with the Chief Minister — he did not tweet the photo of the meeting — his party called it a “mere courtesy visit”. Asked about the meeting, PSPL chief spokesperson Deepak Mishra said, “Shivpalji is one of the senior-most members of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and Adityanath ji, apart from being the Chief Minister, is also the leader of the House. So, no political meaning should be derived from their meeting. In the past too, the CM had sought his (Shivpal) experience as being a senior member of the House. It was merely a courtesy meeting as earlier in the day Shivpal ji had a meeting with the Speaker as well.”
