UP CM Yogi Adityanath targets SP, calls Shivpal pendulum

He mocked Shivpal Yadav, who left SP to form Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and later joined hands with SP, calling him a “pendulum” and comparing him to a football. Addressing a public meeting in Karhal, represented by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the BJP leader said: “Who are the people who after coming to power made government a family heirloom. Time has come to show them democracy’s strength.”

Etawah, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Agra, Etah, and Kanpur districts have a dominance of Yadav voters and are considered SP strongholds.

SP is fielding Akhilesh’s wife and former MP Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri which fell vacant after the death of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. With Shivpal burying the hatchet with his nephew Akhilesh and seen campaigning for Dimple, Adityanath said, “His (Shivpal) condition has become like a pendulum. One shouldn’t become a pendulum in life because a pendulum has no goal,” Shivpal had earlier expressed unhappiness with Akhilesh after Assembly elections.

Referring to the ongoing football World Cup, Adityanath said: “Some people have become football. People must avoid becoming football and work for honour and respect of Mainpuri. To protect honour and respect, BJP fielded Raghuraj Singh Shakya.”

Shakya, once Shivpal’s close aide, joined BJP in the run-up to the Assembly elections this year.