Shivpal Yadav to contest LS poll from Firozabad

President of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) Shivpal Singh Yadav on Saturday said he would be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Firozabad against his nephew Akshay Yadav, the incumbent MP. Akshay is son of Shivpal's estranged cousin Ram Gopal Yadav. The former UP minister said he was forced to form his own party after being sidelined by Akhilesh Yadav, the former Chief Minister and son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the founder of Samajwadi Party.

Shivpal took potshots at the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance forged recently and said neither he nor his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav ever considered Mayawati "behen ji" (sister). "How can Akhilesh call her 'bua' (aunt)?" he questioned. Terming Akhilesh Yadav, with whom he fell out in January 2017, "Babua" (puppet), Shivpal Singh Yadav said he is the one who cheated his own father and uncle.

"I did everything for Akhilesh. But it is for all to see how he treated me," said the legislator from Jaswantnagar in Etawah. The 63-year-old also said that Akhilesh Yadav cannot be trusted.