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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KKR land Green for record-breaking Rs 25.20 crore; Shaw, Sarfaraz go unsold
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders splurged a record-breaking Rs 25.20 to land top Australian all-rounder Cameron Green even as Indian stars Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan went unsold in the Indian Premier League players' auction here on Tuesday.
Green surpassed compatriot Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) to become the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction. This was after Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings were involved in an intense bidding war for him before the latter emerged winner.
KKR also went after Venkatesh Iyer before pulling out of the race against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who fetched the services of the India all-rounder for Rs 7 crore.
As far as Green is concerned, his salary for the season would still be Rs 18 crore (USD 1.9 million) as the rest of the amount will go towards the BCCI's player development programme as per the rules of the auction for foreign players.
Green, who previously turned up for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has so far played 29 matches in the IPL to aggregate 707 runs and take 16 wickets.
Shaw, however, went unsold despite his fine run of form in the domestic circuit lately, and so was the case with Sarfaraz, who smashed a 22-ball 73 in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match for Mumbai on Tuesday.
Big-hitting South African batter David Miller was bought by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 2 crore, but New Zealand swashbuckler Devon Conway, whose base price was also Rs 2 crore, went unsold in the auction.
Seasoned South African opener Quinton de Kock returned to his old base Mumbai Indians for a base price of Rs 1 crore.
A total of 359 players -- 246 Indians and 113 overseas players -- are part of the mini auction pool with the 10 franchises bidding to fill up a maximum of 77 slots, including 31 reserved for foreign players.
