A day after the security of Pragatisheel Samaj Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Yadav was downgraded by the Uttar Pradesh government, he said his workers would now provide him security.
Shivpal’s security was downgraded on Monday from ‘Z’ to ‘Y’ category, days after he mended fences with nephew Akhilesh Yadav.
“This was expected of the BJP. Now, my workers and people will provide me security. Dimple Yadav’s victory and BJP candidate’s loss in Mainpuri will now be even bigger,” Shivpal said.
Earlier, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had termed the move “objectionable”. He had also hit out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for likening his uncle to a ‘pendulum’ and a ‘football’.
In a tweet in Hindi, Akhilesh said: “It is objectionable to reduce the security cover of Shivpal Singh Yadav. It is also to be noted that a pendulum is a symbol of movement of time and indicates the change of time for everyone. It says that there is nothing stable on which one could be proud of.”
“He has become something like a pendulum, or a football that gets kicked by both teams. We saw how he was insulted on stage last time through denial of a chair, and he had to sit on the arm of a chair,” Adityanath had said at an election rally in bypoll-bound Mainpuri.
The SP made Shivpal its star campaigner for the Mainpuri bypoll. The development came after Akhilesh and Shivpal buried the hatchet and joined hands to campaign for Mainpuri as a tribute to Mulayam Singh Yadav.