The rebel Samajwadi Party leader and chief of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) Shivpal Yadav has announced to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Firozabad constituency.
The current MP from Firozabad is Akshay Yadav, son of Shivpal’s estranged brother Ram Gopal Yadav, also an SP leader. During the Yadav family feud in 2016, Ram Gopal had sided with Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal Yadav’s party will be contesting on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections. However, he won’t field any candidate against his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party was floated in 2018 after Shivpal’s growing differences with Akhilesh Yadav for “not giving him the due respect in the party.” The formation of the new party just ahead of Lok Sabha elections was seen as an attempt to dent the SP.