Today in Politics: Amid SP flip-flop, Akhilesh throws his hat in LS poll ring, to file nomination from Kannauj

When asked whether the SP workers in Kannauj wanted him to contest from the seat, Akhilesh said, “The question here is of historic victory from the seat. The BJP will become history in this election as people have made up their mind for INDIA bloc. People are going to vote against the NDA.”

In context: On Monday, the SP had declared Akhilesh’s nephew Tej Pratap, 36, as its candidate from Kannauj despite the buzz over the SP chief’s move to contest from there.

The SP had then said that Akhilesh had “larger responsibilities” of taking care of the party organisation during the Lok Sabha elections.

However, SP sources said that after two days of convincing by Kannauj’s party brass, the SP chief “made up his mind to contest” the seat, as Asad Rehman reports.

“The SP leadership wants Akhilesh ji to contest because that will help the party not just in Kannauj but also in neighbouring Lok Sabha constituencies. It will galvanise the party cadre and supporters,” said a senior SP leader.

Tej Pratap is the maternal grandson of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s elder brother Ratan Singh Yadav and son-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. He was the SP MP from Mainpuri during 2014-2019.

Kannauj has been the SP first family’s traditional bastion – the party has won the seat six times since 1999 until the BJP wrested it in 2019.

Akhilesh had won the Kannauj seat first in 2000 and later represented it in 2004 and 2009. He vacated the seat after he became the UP chief minister in 2012, following which his wife Dimple Yadav won the by-election from there unopposed.

BJP bigwigs’ campaigns

The BJP top brass seems to be stepping up its canvassing, as the campaigning ended Wednesday for the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls to be held on April 26. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public rally in Agra, which will go to polls in the third phase on May 7 and will see Union minister of state S P Singh Baghel in the fray. UP CM Yogi Adityanath would also be in attendance at the Agra rally.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Thursday address a rally in Siddipet of Telangana, which is seen as the stronghold of former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) minister T Harish Rao and falls under the Medak parliamentary seat, which goes to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. Former BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao is in the fray from the seat, who will lock horns with the BRS’s Venkatrami Reddy and Neelam Madhu of the Congress.

Shah will then proceed to Sonepur in Odisha, which falls under the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat and will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20. This will be his first rally in the state after the BJP’s alliance talks with the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) failed. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is holding rallies in Lakhimpur Kheri and Etawah in UP. Both Kheri and Etawah go to polls in the fourth phase.

– With PTI inputs