Lucknow, Jun 8 (IANS): Keshav Dev Maurya, president of Mahan Dal, has announced that he is snapping ties with the Samajwadi Party.

Maurya told reporters that he was being repeatedly ignored by the Samajwadi Party leadership.

"I did not raise these issues earlier because I did not want negative publicity. SP did not give me the eight seats that I had asked for. I was given just two seats. Then I was ignored in the recent Rajya Sabha and now Vidhan Parishad elections," he said.

Maurya said that he did not use arm-twisting tactics during elections like other allies did but his patience has given way now.

The Mahan Dal, which is one of the oldest allies of the SP, is apparently upset at not being nominated as candidate for the Vidhan Parishad.

"Akhilesh Yadav does not need allies - he is content with chamchas," he said.

Meanwhile, Om Prakash Rajbhar, president of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), another SP ally, is also upset with SP at being denied a seat in the upper house.

Rajbhar, sources said, wanted his son Arvind Rajbhar to be sent to the Vidhan Parishad.