Uttar Pradesh: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav not to contest himself in assembly polls

LUCKNOW: Sitting MP from Azamgarh and Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav has declared that he won't contest the 2022 assembly elections. He also said the SP has entered into an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the state polls.
On the issue of joining hands with estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party, the SP chief reiterated his earlier stand that he was open to it. “He and his party leaders will be honoured adequately,” Akhilesh said. The SP chief had earlier said he was open to leaving seats for Shivpal and accommodating “his people”.
Akhilesh was interacting with the media while on his visit to Hardoi on Sunday when he was asked if he would contest the assembly polls himself given that he was a sitting MP from Azamgarh. “I will not contest the assembly elections,” he said.
Akhilesh also announced that the SP-RLD alliance was well in place and a formal announcement on seat-sharing would be made soon. The SP chief's statement has put to rest speculations over possible talks of alliance between the RLD and the Congress which originated after photographs of a meeting between Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary that took place in Lucknow on Sunday, started doing the rounds on social media. Later, RLD sources said the two leaders had met at the airport and it was a mere coincidence.
SP leaders also came strongly in defence of the SP chief’s decision not to contest the assembly pools. Sources said Akhikesh’s decision not to contest assembly elections stemmed from the fact that contesting assembly elections himself would leave him preoccupied with canvassing for himself and spare less time for him to campaign across the length and breadth of the state.
Senior party leaders said senior leaders not contesting assembly elections was nothing new. Apart from Akhilesh, a host of top politicians like Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and chief minister Yogi Adityanath had stayed away from the assembly elections only to take the MLC route or through bypolls.
“SP national president himself will be in the fray or not is inconsequential as the party as a whole will contest the 2022 assembly polls on the name, face and leadership of Akhilesh Yadav himself,” said party spokesperson MLC Udaiveer Singh.
Akhilesh is at present busy with his statewide 'Vijay Yatra' which was launched from the Ganga Ghat in Kanpur and entered into its second phase from Hardoi on Sunday.