india

Updated: Feb 26, 2019 23:12 IST

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday announced that he would contest the 2019 national elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj while his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, 79, would be the party’s nominee from Mainpuri in the same state.

The announcement came days after Mulayam, on February 21, questioned the delay in naming the SP candidates for the national polls due this summer and the party’s alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead in campaigning and added that he could step in if Akhilesh was unable to keep pace. Mulayam complained the SP had fewer tickets – 38 – to distribute because of the alliance.

Their relations have been frosty since Akhilesh took the SP’s control in 2017 when Mulayam refused to campaign for the party in the assembly polls. Mulayam has skipped most party events, including the one where his son was re-elected as party chief in 2018. He praised Narendra Modi this month in Parliament and said he wanted him to become the Prime Minister again even as the SP has tied up with BSP as part of the efforts to oust the BJP from power.

“Netaji [Mulayam Singh Yadav] will contest the Lok Sabha election from Mainpuri. The Parliament member from Mainpuri, Tej Pratap Yadav, is a hardworking politician and will be adjusted somewhere,” Akhilesh said in Saifai.

Akhilesh, who had represented Kannauj thrice before he vacated the seat to take over as Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 2012, refused to answer questions about his wife Dimple’s possible constituency. Dimple is a Parliament member from Kannauj.

The BJP formed the government at the Centre in 2014 on the back of its performance in states like Uttar Pradesh, where it won 71 out of the 80 seats. A united Opposition managed to wrest three Lok Sabha seats from the BJP in the state, prompting the BSP and SP to form the alliance.

Akhilesh also referred to PM Modi’s visit to Allahabad, where he washed the feet of sanitary workers on Sunday.

“Elections are round the corner; all this will happen. People should be cautious of these gimmicks,” he said.

Separately, in Uttar Prtadesh’s Ghazipur, BJP chief Amit Shah alleged that the Congress, the SP and BSP for doing nothing for the poor. He said they only talked about the poor during their rule. “[The Congress, SP, and BSP] did not take any steps for the welfare and bringing a positive change in the lives of the poor in the country. After becoming the prime minister in 2014, Modi took many steps for the welfare of the poor.”

He said the Modi government ensured toilets and electricity for every house.

“Various other schemes were started for the welfare of the poor. “The Modi government provided homes to 2.5 crore people of the country.” He said electricity is there in every house because Modi understands the problems of the poor.