IT’S GOING TO BE AKHILESH FROM KANNAUJ, MSY FROM MAINPURI
Insiders say the decision of the SP chief to contest the next general election from Kannauj is aimed at quelling allegations of promoting “dynasty” in the party
LUCKNOW : The Samajwadi Party’s top leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav are returning to their favourite constituencies for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Although speculations were already on, but the Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav confirmed it on Monday while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of a ceremony here to pay tributes to Janeshwar Mishra on his death anniversary. “Mulayam will contest Mainpuri. Our party will decide who will contest which seat. But Kannauj was the Lok Sabha constituency of Ram Manohar Lohai (SP ideologue) and I would certainly like to contest from there),” he said. Both the seats have sitting SP MPs. Kannauj’s MP is Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav while Mulayam’s grand-nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav is the Mainpuri MP.
LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party’s top leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav are returning to their favourite constituencies for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Although speculations were already on, but the Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav confirmed it on Monday while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of a ceremony here to pay tributes to Janeshwar Mishra on his death anniversary.
“Netaji toh Mainpuri se ladengey. Hamari party tay karegi ki kisko kahan se ladna hai. Kannauj Lohiaji ka hai, meri ichcha hogi ki main bhi wahin se ladun (Mulayam will contest Mainpuri. Our party will decide who will contest which seat. But Kannauj was the Lok Sabha constituency of Ram Manohar Lohai (SP ideologue) and I would certainly like to contest from there),” he said.
Both the seats have sitting SP MPs. Kannauj’s MP is Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav while Mulayam’s grand-nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav is the Mainpuri MP.
Akhilesh had been MP from Kannauj three times in a row and had vacated the seat after he took over as the chief minister of UP in 2012 and entered the upper house of the UP legislature. Mulayam, who been Mainpuri MP four times since 1996, had vacated it and retained Azamgarh as he had contested from the two seats in 2014. Mulayam had vacated Mainpuri in 2004 too, when he became the chief minister of UP. Then, his nephew Dharmendra Yadav won the seat in the bypolls.
SP insiders said the decision of the party chief to contest the next general election from Kannauj was aimed at quelling allegations of promoting “dynasty” in the party.
On September 24 last year, Akhilesh had said in Raipur, “Dimple will not contest the next election. If there is dynastic politics, then I decide that my wife will not fight election next time. Now, BJP should tell about their dynastic politics.”
Akhilesh’s intention of contesting from Kannauj again is to ensure that SP continues to retain the seat even under the changed political scenario. In last year’s state Assembly election, the party had lost two of the three assembly segments falling under the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency to the BJP. The SP also lost all the three Nagar Palika chairpersons seats and all five Nagar panchayat chairpersons seats in Kannauj in the recent civic polls.
Even in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, while the saffron surged in UP, Dimple Yadav could win the seat by a narrow margin of 20,000 votes.
“Akhilesh should be back in Parliament and seen at the national level rather than staying in the Vidhan Parishad here,” said a close aide. Early this month, Akhilesh also had said that he will start working to make the party a national party.