Lucknow, Mar 30 (PTI) Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia leader Shivpal Singh Yadav was sworn in as an MLA on Wednesday amid speculation that he "delayed" the oath-taking to indicate a strained relationship with Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Three other MLAs too took oath on the occasion.

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Shivpal Yadav had contested the Assembly elections from Jaswantnagar seat of Etawah on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party headed by his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.

He had on Tuesday skipped a meeting here between Akhilesh Yadav and SP allies. Earlier, he did not attend the oath ceremony in the state Assembly.

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When contacted, Assembly officials did not say anything about his taking oath late.

The three other MLA who took oath on Wednesday were Fateh Bahadur Singh from Caimpiyarganj (Gorakhpur), Surendra Maithani from Govindnagar (Kanpur) and Ashish Kumar Singh from Bilgram-Mallawa (Hardoi).

Six MLAs, including senior SP leader Azam Khan and Kairana legislator Nahid Hasan, are yet to take oath.

After remaining at loggerheads since 2017, Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav had decided to mend fences just before the recently concluded state Assembly elections.

Their estrangement had resulted in Shivpal Yadav launching his own party before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In the just-concluded Assembly polls, the two had put up a united front.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)