Akhilesh in fray from Mulayam’s Azamgarh

Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, March 24

Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Azamgarh, while senior leader Mohammad Azam Khan will be the SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Rampur. An announcement in this regard was made today.

Akhilesh had hinted at contesting from Azamgarh, a seat which was won in 2014 by his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has returned to his family bastion of Mainpuri. In 2014, he had won both seats. He later vacated the Mainpuri seat. 

Akhilesh first entered the Lok Sabha from Kannauj, a seat which he won thrice and is now represented by his wife Dimple Yadav. 

With Akhilesh fighting from Azamgarh, BJP’s likely candidate Ramakant Yadav has reportedly refused to contest. He reportedly wants to be shifted to Jaunpur. Four-time MP from Azamagarh

Ramakant Yadav was fielded by the BJP against Mulayam Singh in 2014. He lost to the stalwart despite a Modi wave.

Azam Khan is serving his ninth term as MLA from Rampur Sadar Assembly constituency. This is his first attempt at entering the Lok Sabha, a seat won by eminent Congress leader Abul Kalam Azad in the first Lok Sabha elections in 1952.

The Samajwadi Party also released its list of 40 star campaigners with party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s name at the top. Earlier in the day, it had released a list for the first phase in which the name of the party patriarch was missing, triggering speculation on his role during electioneering being curtailed.

The SP list of star campaigners includes two women — Rajya Sabha MP and former filmstar Jaya Bachchan and Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav.