Lucknow: Putting speculations to rest, former chief minister and Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav has announced that he will contest the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj, his wife Dimple’s seat.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav will give Azamgarh a miss and contest from Mainpuri instead.
News18 had reported in January this year about the leaders planning to contest from Kannauj and Mainpuri.
Akhilesh announced his move during an interaction with the media ahead of his meeting with SP workers at the party headquarters in Lucknow on Thursday.
Accompanied by his wife, he said, “I have decided to contest from Kannauj as it has been the bastion of Lohia ji and then Neta ji (Mulayam Singh Yadav). Kannauj has always been good to me and also my wife Dimple won from there. People of Kannauj will give a befitting reply to the Opposition.”
He added, “Neta ji will contest from Mainpuri and we all will make sure that he wins by a huge margin. The decision on seat sharing in the gathbandhan (alliance) will be taken with time. But all the Samajwadi workers should make sure they win their booths, no matter who the candidate is.”
The decision comes in the backdrop of the party’s defeat in the traditional strongholds of Kannauj, Mainpuri, Firozabad and other districts during last year’s state assembly and municipal elections.
Mulayam is currently a Member of Parliament from Azamgarh. However, he decided to contest from Mainpuri to revive the party’s traditional vote bank in its home turf.
On the other hand, rumours were rife that Dimple would not contest from Kannauj after Akhilesh, while replying to allegations of dynasty politics, said his wife would not contest in the next elections.
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