Akhilesh files nomination from Kannauj: ‘ People wanted me to...’

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Thursday filed his nomination papers from Kannauj after his candidature was finalised Wednesday, just two days after the party had announced his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav as the party candidate.

Party leaders said that the decision to field Akhilesh from Kannauj was taken after the local leadership requested the party high command to field him.

After filing his nomination papers, Akhilesh told mediaperson: “The history of Kannauj has been great. The business in Kannauj has a place not just in India, but across the world. The development of Kannauj was stopped by the BJP people because Samajwadis started those works. The BJP has done negative politics. The BJP has humiliated people on many occasions. The people of Kannauj will once again choose a composite culture and love."

Akhilesh said that he has served the people of Kannauj in the past and will do it again. “A large number of people here wanted me to contest for the SP. I thank the people. I hope I will get their blessings.”

Kannauj has been a Yadav family bastion. The SP has won the seat six times since 1999, until the BJP wrested it from the party in 2019. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh had won from Azamgarha against Bhojpuri actor and BJP candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua” by 2.59 lakh votes. However, later he vacated the seat after winning from Karhal in the 2022 UP Assembly polls. He then went on to become the Leader of Opposition.

While the BJP and Jayant Chaudhary- led RLD called the SP a “confused party”, SP national spokesperson Faraz Uddin Kidwai said, “The BJP has declined tickets to so many candidates including Meenakshi Lekhi, Gen ( retd) V K Singh, Pravesh Verma and others… every political party has its own strategy. The objective is to win elections. BJP knows that their MPS have not worked in the past five years and they are continuously raising irrelevant issues to divert the focus from their failures.”

Over the last six months, Akhilesh has been frequently visiting Kannauj, fuelling speculation about his candidature from the seat.

PTI SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Kannauj before filing his nomination papers on Thursday.