Akhilesh Yadav namesake rides on CM’s popularity
Dressed in white Kurta Pyjama, Akhilesh Yadav wakes up early morning to hit the campaign trail. As he reaches villages, the public starts shouting slogans ‘Akhilesh Bhaiya Zindabad’ and he responds with smile.
Before you confuse him with the UP’s chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, meet his namesake from Mubarakpur assembly constituency in Azamgarh district in UP. Contesting for SP, this Akhilesh Yadav, often has to explain that he is not the CM.
“Of course, people often get confused but being a local, majority of the voters knows me. I am honoured that I share my name with CM and in a way CM is contesting election from here. His name will not only benefit me but the entire UP,” said Yadav, who is contesting the election for the second time.
Incidentally, Mubarak constituency is part of Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav’s parliamentary constituency.
“For the voters of Mubarakpur, there is no difference between the two Akhilesh Yadavs. They love them equally. SP has worked on the agenda of development and we are confident of winning this time,” said Yadav.
Of the little over 3 lakh voters in the constituency, Muslims and Yadavs dominate the area with 80,000 voters each. Yadav, who contested the election for the first time in 2012, lost to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
“But this time we will win as we have the support of Congress. In 2012, a Samajwadi Party worker contested for BJP, after being denied a ticket. This led to a division of votes,” said Aoun Hashmi, who had come to Mubarakpur to meet his relatives and was one of the few persons who initially thought CM is contesting from the constituency.
Yadav’s main opponent is Shah Alam from BSP, who is the sitting MLA.
“He is the only Muslim candidate of the constituency which will work in his favour. There are 72,000 Dalit votes in the constituency, which BSP is confident of getting. Then there is another Yadav candidate from Peace party. All this will lead to BSP’s victory,” said a party member. However, according to Yadav, Muslims are always with SP and since Alam is an outsider, he is confident of winning the seat by ca omfortable margin.
The area is going to poll Mon arch 4 and during his campaign, Yadav’s campaign managers always tell voters to vote for ‘Akhilesh Yadav’.