Presidential Elections: The election will be held on July 18 and results will be announced on July 21.
Ahead of the presidential elections, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Yadav on Saturday asked Samajwadi Party chief to reconsider his decision to support Yashwant Sinha, whom he recalled had called SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav an ISI agent.
In a letter to Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal said, "I would like to draw your attention and that of well-wishers of the Samajwadi Party towards an extremely serious and sensitive issue. This is a strange irony that the Samajwadi Party is supporting that person in the presidential elections, who had termed our guardian and source of energy and inspiration 'Netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav) as an agent of ISI." Voting for the presidential election will be held on Monday.
"It is unfortunate that the Samajwadi Party could not find a presidential candidate, who hailed from socialist legacy. It makes me feel sad that the samajwadis who lose their temper at the insult of Netaji, are today supporting the person who had insulted him," said Shivpal Yadav.
By doing so the party has become a butt of jokes, he said.
Shivpal Yadav went on to say in the letter, "Dear Akhilesh jee, I know my limits. You are the chief of the Samajwadi Party. In this situation, my advice is that in the light of the above points, you please reconsider your decision." Shivpal Yadav on July 9 had said that he has "decided" to vote for Droupadi Murmu, the National Democratic Alliance's candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.
On Friday, UP's Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak also hit out at Akhilesh for supporting opposition candidate Sinha in the July 18 presidential election, and sought his response over an old statement of Sinha calling SP patriarch an agent of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
On the other hand, the SP described both the deputy chief ministers as “pracharjeevi” (propagandist) and asked them about the role of the ruling BJP and its leaders during the country's freedom movement.