Samajwadi Chief Akhilesh Yadav will officially be contesting assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh from the Karhal seat in Mainpuri a place which has electaral significance for the Samajwadi Party as a whole. The announcement was made by SP spokesperson Ramgopal Yadav at a press conference today.
"Samajwadi Party has taken more decisions for public after we made 300 units free power to domestic consumers or free laptops to students. SP will create 22 lakh direct employment in IT sector in UP in Samajwadi Party's Rozgaar Sankalp when the SP forms government in 2022," said Akhilesh Yadav at the press conference.
Karhal is a Samajwadi stronghold, having hosted continuous MLA's from the party for 23 years. It is also close to the Yadav family's home of Safai.
Praveen Singh Aron, former member of Parliament from Bareilly and its former mayor Supriya Aron have joined the Samajwadi Party. Rita Singh, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party last month, also joined the SP today.
According to media reports, Akhilesh's decision to contest polls for the first time was made under pressure from two fronts; one from Gorakhpur where UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be making his debut as well as another trigger of sister-in-law Aparna Yadav joining the BJP, which finally occurred this week.
Another blow for the SP came with Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother-in-law Pramod Yadav joining the BJP on Thursday along with former MLAs, Raghuraj Shakya and Shivkumar Beriya. Despite major defections from the BJP to SP, these defections the other way could also dent poll prospects for the Samajwadi Party.
Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal have announced an alliance for the assembly elections, while the Nationalist Congress Party has announced to have tied up with the SP for both the Uttar Pradesh and the Goa elections. The Trinamool Congress said it will not contest in UP but will support Akhilesh's party and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will also campaign for Samajwadi Party.
UP votes in a seven-phase poll that begins February 10, with results due exactly one month later. Akhilesh Yadav said this week that he needed to ask "permission" of his constituents in Azamgarh to vacate his sitting MP seat.