Family of UP’s ‘DeMo baby’ to flag off Akhilesh poll campaign

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav will launch his 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign from Kannauj with a 50-km cycle yatra which will be flagged off by the family of “demonetisation baby” Khazanchi.

The boy was born when a woman, waiting to withdraw money from a bank during demonetisation period on December 2, 2016, went into labour in the bank premises. He was named Khazanchi (treasurer) by the manager.

Yadav, who opposed demonetisation, gave the newborn Rs 1 lakh from the chief minister’s fund. On the first anniversary of demonetisation on November 8 last year, Yadav sent Rs 10,000 to the family and also adopted the boy’s village Anantpurwa in Kanpur Dehat.

While the date of the launch of poll campaign has not been announced as yet, SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said Akhilesh’s cycle yatra would begin from Kannauj and conclude at the point where IAF fighter jets had landed on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

All the three elements of the

cycle ride have political meaning –Akhilesh has been an MP thrice from Kannauj and is set to contest again from here, flagging off the rally by Khazanchi’s family will come as a tool to hit out at the BJP government, and the Agra-Lucknow Expressway is billed as one of the biggest development projects during Akhilesh’s regime.

“Last week, the SP president had announced that a cycle yatra would be taken out every month. The first one in the series has now been announced,” said Chaudhary.

He said Akhilesh would hold intensive programmes and a series of cycle yatras to connect with the people.