Samajwadi Secular Front to contest all 80 LS seats: Shivpal Yadav
Lucknow, Aug 31 : Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, who has revolted against his nephew and party chief Akhilesh Yadav to float "Samajwadi Secular Front", announced on Friday that his new outfit will contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.
Talking to reporters after meeting his supporters and party workers in Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh, Shivpal Yadav said his is a long fight and that he would assimilate all who have been "marginalized and humiliated" in the SP.
Buoyed by the grand welcome accorded to him by party workers, he also ruled out any truck with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Trashing such reports as a ploy by his opponents to dent his image, the former state SP chief said he was forced to form the Front after being pushed to a corner, with humiliation heaped on him by the present leadership of the party he founded with his elder brother 26 years back.
"We made the SP with lot of passion and hard work, but now the seniors are being sidelined and humiliated. This couldn't have gone on endlessly...and hence the formation of the Front was decided," he said.
The objective of the Front, he added, is to work for development of Uttar Pradesh and take up the cudgels on behalf of the poor, weaker sections and the oppressed.
Asked what are his differences with Akhilesh Yadav, he ducked the question by saying he has differences with no one now.
When asked if he is working in tandem with his old friend and former SP General Secretary Amar Singh, he answered in the negative.
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Haven't rapes taken place during BJP regime, asks CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru/Belagavi (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday wondered whether there were no rapes during the BJP regime.
He was reacting to BJP's allegation about the deteriorating law and order situation in the state in the wake of a woman raped at KR Market in Bengaluru on Sunday night.
The victim who was waiting for a bus to Yelahanka was allegedly raped by two men. Police have arrested two people in this connection.
"The incident happened in SJ Park. The complaint pertains to extortion and sexual assault. Two people have been arrested," Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda told reporters here in Bengaluru.
Reacting to BJP's charges in this regard while speaking to reporters in Belagavi, Siddaramaiah asked "Haven't rapes taken place during the BJP regime?"
He said that rapes should not happen and women should be protected.
"Anti-social elements in the society do such things. We will take stringent action against them," the Chief Minister added.
The BJP on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Home Minister G Parameshwara claiming that the cases of crimes such as robbery, murder, rapes and atrocities on the weaker sections of the society have suddenly increased.
