Union mantri pitted against Akhilesh
Battlelines drawn in UP: SP president to face Union minister S.P. Singh Baghel in Karhal seat
Lucknow, Jan.
31: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will face Union minister S.P. Singh Baghel on Karhal seat of Mainpuri where both of them filed nominations on Monday.
Shortly after Akhilesh Yadav filed his nomination, Baghel too followed suit as a BJP candidate, ending speculation about Aparna Yadav challenging the SP president on this high-profile seat.
Asked recently about chances of her challenging his brother-in-law Akhilesh Yadav on this seat, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-inlaw Aparna Yadav had said she would follow the party’s directions and that led to the speculation.
After filing his nomination papers, the SP chief said the UP assembly elections will write the country's history for the next century and appealed to people to defeat the ‘negative politics’.
Yadav said his “mission” is to do ‘positive politics with progressive thinking’. The Karhal Assembly seat is part of the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency represented by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“This nomination is a mission as this UP election will write the country’s history for the next century. Let us take part in this movement of positive politics with progressive thinking. Defeat negative politics, remove it. Jai Hind!,” Yadav said in a Hindi tweet.
He also shared a picture of his departure for Mainpuri from his native place Saifai in Etawah on a Samajwadi Vijay Rath bus.
Karhal will go to the polls on February 20 in the third of the seven-phase elections in the state.
“First of all, I want to thank the people of Mainpuri and of the organisation who have given me a chance that I have been nominated today for contesting the elections from Karhal,” he told reporters later.
“Positive politics has been carried forward and I hope people of Uttar Pradesh will remove those who do negative politics in this election. Therefore, I appeal to people to give the SP an opportunity not only in Karhal but in every area. The party will take the state on the path of development, prosperity and progress,” he said.
On being asked if he will visit the constituency for campaigning, Akhilesh said, "I have left my election to party leaders and people here. I will certainly come if I get a chance. But people here have assured me that there is no need for me to come here. Yes, I will certainly come after winning.”