Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has indicated that he may not contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and will work to ensure that the SP wins the electoral battle.
Speaking to the media in Varanasi, Akhilesh Yadav said that he will first be sworn in as the Chief Minister. He cited the example of 2012, when he led his party’s campaign but did not contest from any assembly seat and was sworn in as the Chief Minister after results gave him a handsome majority.
“When I became the CM last time, did I contest from any assembly seat? Straight from Lok Sabha to CM’s chair. I became CM when I didn’t contest. This time too, I will first become CM,” he said.
Samajwadi Party sources said that it has been decided for quite some time that Akhilesh
Yadav should not contest personally so that he is free to campaign for the party throughout the state.
“As national president of the party and its star campaigner, Akhilesh Yadav ji has to handle multiple duties. He will be involved in seat-sharing talks with allies, the onerous task of finalising candidates, and then oversee the election campaign and address rallies. This will leave little time for him. Once the SP is in power after the 2027 polls, he can decide whether to contest a bypoll or enter the assembly as an MLC,” said a senior SP leader.
In 2012, when the Samajwadi Party swept to power with a majority of its own, Akhilesh Yadav, though the face of the campaign, did not contest. He was a three-term MP and state president of the SP when the party came to power in 2012. Upon being chosen as the CM candidate by the party, Akhilesh Yadav, after being sworn in, entered the assembly as an MLC.
In 2022, he contested and won from the Karhal assembly seat by a huge margin, and it could have been his chosen seat this time also. But the SP may field a Yadav family member from the seat this time.
Akhilesh is a five-term MP from Kannauj and his wife, Dimple Yadav, is an MP from Mainpuri.
SP sources said that the party and Congress are close to finalising an alliance and the seat-sharing formula between them. “Immediately after that, the SP will start finalising its candidates, giving weightage to members from the PDA community or Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (backwards, Dalits and minorities) as per the slogan given by Akhilesh Yadav ji,” said the senior SP leader.
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