In UP, socialist Shivpal tries to create space for his new outfit

Lucknow, Sep 22 (IANS) Eager to expand his newly formed political outfit, the Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM), former UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav on Saturday called on socialist ideologue Bhagwati Singh and "sought his blessings", a party spokesman said.

Yadav, who is the younger brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav, tweeted that the "blessings of the senior SP leader were with the SSM".

Deepak Mishra, the party spokesman who accompanied Shivpal Yadav for the meeting, told IANS that the senior SP leader is not the only one to have extended his blessings to the new outfit. "There are many like-minded socialist stalwarts who are with the new formation," said Mishra.

Shivpal Yadav also handed over the flag of his party to Bhagwati Singh, who has been a close associate of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Socialist ideologue Bhagwati Singh is a follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and has been a minister and an MP. Singh has expressed his unhappiness at the split in the Samajwadi Party.

Shivpal Singh Yadav is the estranged uncle of former chief minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. He has already spurned an offer of truce and said that there is no going back to the SP under its present leadership.