Akhilesh gets into LS poll groove, meets Kannauj unit

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday began his party’s districtwise preparation for the Lok Sabha polls by holding a meeting with the party’s Kannauj unit.

Addressing party workers, Akhilesh reiterated he will contest from Kannauj and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav will be fielded from Mainpuri.

Kannauj is the Lok Sabha constituency of Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav at present.

He said the opposition had charged the SP with dynastic politics and thus Dimple Yadav will not contest the election this time.

Akhilesh was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj three times in a row. He vacated the

KANNAUJ IS THE LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCY OF AKHILESH’S WIFE DIMPLE YADAV AT PRESENT

seat after he took over as the chief minister in 2012 and entered the upper house of the UP legislature. Mulayam was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mainpuri four times since 1996. He vacated the seat and retained Azamgarh in 2014. Mulayam had also vacated Mainpuri in 2004, when he became the UP chief minister for the third time.

Then, his nephew Dharmendra Yadav won the seat in the bypolls.

Replying to a reporters’ questions, the SP chief said, “With whosoever our alliance is firmed up, the party workers will ensure our victory and the BJP’s defeat.”

Addressing the party’s Kannauj outfit, Akhilesh said the party must beware of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as they were adept in diverting public attention from real issues. They could sully anyone’s image by engaging in propaganda, he said.

“Not just this. Now, there is the danger about them (BJP and RSS) misusing technology, especially, Facebook, WhatsApp, to spread lies. ‘Digital India’ could be deployed to resort to character assassination of opposition leaders,” he said.

Akhilesh asked the Kannauj outfit to brace for the elections to defeat the BJP. This was the first meeting of a district unit that Akhilesh held and more are lined up in the days to come.