Split widens in UP Oppn as Shivpal begins to follow Modi, Yogi on Twitter

Sulking socialist leader Shivpal Singh Yadav on Saturday started following Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma on Twitter, further fuelling speculation about strains in the Samajwadi Party-led opposition alliance.

With the latest additions, Yadav now follows 12 Twitter handles, which include the Dalai Lama, the President of India, the Prime Minister's Office and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office.

Yadav had contested the recent Assembly polls on the Samajwadi Party symbol. But he skipped the Opposition alliance's meeting earlier this week and took oath on March 31.

He later went to the chief minister's residence in Lucknow, fuelling speculation of his changing sides.

The latest development is seen as yet another step of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia chief in quitting the opposition alliance and cross over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"There should be something new in the New Year. On Saturday (the first day of the Hindu New Year), Shivpal Ji started following (on Twitter) Modi, Adityanath and Dinesh Sharma," Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia spokesperson Deepak Mishra told PTI on Saturday.

About many seeing it as a possibility of Yadav crossing over to the saffron camp, Mishra said, "I don't deny the possibilities. Options are always open in politics."

He also said, "Shivpal Ji was already following Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"Today, he started following Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma."

The rift between Shivpal Yadav and his nephew Akhilesh Yadav has been widening ever since the former was not invited to the meeting of newly elected Samajwadi Party MLAs on March 26.

Shivpal Yadav's crossover, if it actually happens, would not be out of the blue as on many occasions Akhilesh Yadav has accused his uncle of being in touch with Adityanath and being soft towards the BJP.

It is being speculated that the BJP might send Shivpal Yadav to the Rajya Sabha and give his Jaswantnagar Assembly seat to his son Aditya Yadav.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had denied a ticket to Aditya Yadav in the February-March elections. Eleven Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh would be falling vacant between April and July.

After being at loggerheads since 2017 and Shivpal Yadav launching his political outfit, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), in 2019, Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle decided to mend fences just before the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

On the eve of the state polls, the duo put up a united front, appearing together at the residence of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yada had joined the BJP before the Assembly elections.