Mayawati, Akhilesh and Yogi to hit campaign trail
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati will hit the campaign trail in Gujarat where assembly elections are scheduled on December 9 and 14.
Yogi Adityanath, who participated in Gujarat Gaurav Yatra in mid-October, is likely to address a series of public meetings across the poll bound state after the conclusion of the urban local bodies election in UP.
Once the UP campaign concludes on November 27, he will head to Gujarat to address public meetings and participate in road shows there.
During Gaurav Yatra, he hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, asking how a leader who ‘ignored’ his constituency Amethi could bring about development in Gujarat.
Akhilesh Yadav will address public meetings in support of Congress candidates in Gujarat. The SP will focus on the area that has a strong presence of migrants from UP and other North Indian states.
The Samajwadi Party has decided to field candidates for half-a-dozen assembly seats in Gujarat and Akhilesh Yadav has said the party will support the Congress for the remaining seats. The Congress contested UP polls in alliance with the SP.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to field candidates for 182 seats in Gujarat and party chief Mayawati will launch the campaign.
She plans to woo dalits, who constitute 6% of the state’s population, Muslims and tribal communities in order to challenge the BJP and the Congress.
In the 2012 assembly election, the BSP fielded candidates for 163 assembly seats but drew a blank. The party polled 1.25% of the vote.
In the 2007 assembly election, the BSP fielded candidates for 166 seats, but failed to win any, polling 2.62% votes.
Mayawati visited Gujarat in August last year to meet the Una attack victims. Cow vigilante group members had publicly flogged Dalits in Una, Gujarat, in July last year.
The BSP has held demonstrations in support of the victims and supported the Dalit organisations that launched a movement on the issue. The BSP felt it was in a position to make a dent into the Dalit votes of the BJP and the Congress.
To consolidate the support, she appointed the party’s UP state unit president Ramachal Rajbhar in-charge of Gujarat.