SP Leader Salim Shervani Targets Akhilesh Again, Accuses Him Of Ignoring PDA

Prayagraj, February 22 (TNA) Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former union minister Saleem Iqbal Shervani has once again targetted party president Akhilesh Yadav and charged him with ignoring the minorities in the party fold. Talking to reporters, the 71-year-old also said that while he has held no talks with any political party about his future, he will speak to even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if they invited him.

Shervani recently quit the post of national general secretary after accusing the party leadership of ignoring the PDA, which they only coined. He has been with Indian National Congress for most of his career and represented Badaun constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas. A close ally of Rajiv Gandhi, he was the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare from 1996 to 1997 and the Union Minister of State for External Affairs from 1997 to 1998 in the government led by the prime minister I.K. Gujral.

Shervani hails from a wealthy Pathan industrialist family in Allahabad. He is the owner of the Neoli Sugar factory and president of Krishi Inter College. Saleem Shervani left Congress to join the Samajwadi Party, in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition.

However, in 2009, the Samajwadi Party denied him a ticket to accommodate Mulayam Singh Yadav's nephew Dharmendra Yadav. Shervani then rejoined the Congress. The leader also informed that Dharmendra Yadav, nephew of late Mulayam Singh Yadav who was MP from Budayun has tried to cajole him into withdrawing his resignation from the post but he did not cede to his request. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Shivpal Singh Yadav as its candidate from the Budayun seat.