Senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav yesterday threatened to form a new secular front if Akhilesh Yadav did not hand over the reins of the party to Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Akhilesh had promised to hand over the party to Netaji (Mulayam). He should now do so. I had given him three months’ time. Otherwise, I will constitute a new secular front," he said.

Shivpal had recently said he would soon launch a campaign to unite "samajwadis" (socialists) to bring them on a single platform.