Lucknow, Jun 8 (IANS): Shivpal Singh Yadav, president of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL), seems to have inched closer to his estranged nephew and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav as he thanked him for withdrawing his disqualification petition.

In his letter, Shivpal thanked Akhilesh for reposing faith in him and said this "clear and positive intervention" would lead to a new political formation in the coming days.

It indicates that Shivpal is now ready to accept his nephew's leadership. The show of one-upmanship had led to a split in the Samajwadi Party and the Yadav family.

The Samajwadi Party, last month, had sought withdrawal of petition seeking disqualification of Shivpal from the Assembly for his alleged anti-party activities. The Speaker allowed it to withdraw the petition filed in September 2019.

Shivpal had floated the PSPL before the Lok Sabha elections and contested against SP's official candidate Akshay Yadav from Firozabad.

Recently, Akhilesh had said his party would not contest the Jaswantnagar Assembly seat that belonged to Shivpal Yadav.