Lucknow, May 29 (IANS): The Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Hriday Narain Dixit, has allowed the Samajwadi Party to withdraw the disqualification petition moved earlier against Shivpal Singh Yadav.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), on March 24, had moved a formal petition before Speaker, seeking to withdraw an earlier application, it had moved for the disqualification of Shivpal Singh Yadav from the state Assembly.

"Since we are not able to submit certain documents before you regarding his disqualification, we would not like to pursue the disqualification of Shivpal Yadav," the letter sent by leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary to the Speaker had stated.

The SP had earlier moved an application for Shivpal Yadav's disqualification last year after he formed his own party following a family feud that had spilled over into the party.

Shivpal had won from his traditional Jaswantnagar seat in Etawah in the 2017 Assembly elections on an SP ticket.

The first signs of a thaw between Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav were seen at the Holi Milan function in Sefai in March when they shared the dais and Akhilesh even touched his estranged uncle's feet. Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav also had joined the celebration. It was the first complete family reunion in four years.

The bickering in the family had begun in 2016 and the party, as a result, fared miserably in both, 2017 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha

Shivpal contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls under the banner of his own Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) but could not win even a single seat.

The withdrawal of the petition against Shivpal is being seen as a step towards mending of fences within the party, though a political rapprochement between Akhilesh and Shivpal is still not visible on the horizon.