Chhote Netaji’s challenge: In bid to fill Mulayam shoes, Akhilesh starts reconnecting with base

Akhilesh’s frequent visit to Mainpuri has surprised several leaders within the SP, who pointed out that the party chief has never visited any other constituency so many times in such a short period following the poll results.

Akhilesh had not campaigned in the bypolls in Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha constituencies, the party’s strongholds, in June last year, with the BJP wresting both the seats won by the SP in the 2019 general elections.

The Mainpuri bypoll victory has been crucial for the SP as it was about retaining Mulayam’s legacy. Dimple won the seat with a margin of 2.88 lakh votes, which was over three times the SP’s 2019 victory margin. Mulayam had bagged the seat with a margin of 94,389 votes even as the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was then a pre-poll ally of the SP.

The Mainpuri parliamentary constituency is known to be a key bastion of the SP that has bagged it eight times so far, with Mulayam himself winning it five times.

Following the Mainpuri bypoll result on December 8, which saw Dimple trouncing the BJP’s Raghuraj Singh Shakya, Akhilesh addressed the party leaders and workers in all the the five Assembly segments of the constituency to thank them. These include Mainpuri, Bhongaon, Kishani, Karhal and Jaswantnagar seats, of which the SP had won three and the BJP two (Mainpuri and Bhogaon) in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Both Akhilesh and Dimple addressed the SP workers at the party office in Mainpuri on December 10. The next day, they addressed the party workers in Kishani.

On December 14, Akhilesh hit the streets in Karhal — he is an MLA from there — and met people on the roads. On December 23, both Akhilesh and Dimple addressed a gathering of the party activists in Jaswantnagar. The next day, Akhilesh took part in the Christmas celebrations in Mainpuri.

On January 2-3, Akhilesh along with his family visited Saifai, met people in Mainpuri, attended a satsang and addressed a gathering of the Lodhi samaj in Bhogaon.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Akhilesh has been visiting Mainpuri frequently on the “requests of people there”. Chaudhary added that Akhilesh has addressed meetings in all the Assembly segments of the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat to “express gratitude to workers and voters”.

Some SP insiders however said Akhilesh was trying to “fill the massive void left by Mulayam’s departure by dispelling the charge of his disconnect with public”.

“Netaji (Mulayam) used to meet people one-on-one and regularly visit Mainpuri because it was his constituency and also his home turf. His personal connect with people was his strength that kept the party strong in the adjoining Yadav-dominated constituencies like Kannauj, Etawah, Firozabad and Etah. In the 2024 general elections, Akhilesh would not be able to give so much time only to Mainpuri and other adjoining seats. So, he is strengthening his core base in the absence of Mulayam,” said a party leader.

He also said an SP section has made the pitch that Akhilesh should be called “Chhote Netaji” as Mulayam was popularly known as “Netaji”. After Akhilesh buried the hatchet with his estranged uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav ahead of the Mainpuri bypoll, the latter, while campaigning along with Akhilesh in the constituency, asked people to address Akhilesh as “Chhote Netaji”.

“Akhilesh is trying to assume all the responsibilities that used to be handled by Neta ji earlier,” the SP leader added.