Akhilesh snubs Shivpal, rules out alliance

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav has announced that his party will contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls alone.
Akhilesh Yadav has virtually ruled out any alliance with his estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL).
The SP president, according to an official statement issued late on Wednesday said that his party will form the next government in Uttar Pradesh.
“People have seen through the BJP game plan and will no longer be fooled by their false promises. They are now talking about our regime and comparing it with BJP. We do not need alliances and will contest the 2022 polls on our own strength,” he said.
The Samajwadi Party has faced bitter failure with alliance. The party allied with the Congress in the 2017 Assembly elections and was not only voted out of power but left with 47 seats in the state assembly that has 403 members.
In 2019, the SP allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the alliance was touted as a game changer. However, the Samajwadi Party was left with five seats and the BSP snapped the alliance, accusing SP cadres of not supporting BSP candidates.