Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday announced the party’s list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
With Shivpal Yadav sitting by his side, the party patriarch chose to announce candidates for 325 out of 403 seats in the absence of the state’s CM, Akhilesh Yadav, whose name interestingly did not feature in the first list of candidates.
With all eyes on SP’s next chief ministerial candidate, Mulayam did not name Akhilesh for the post. He further justified his decision by saying that the “choice of the chief minister has always been made by the elected MLAs”.
According to a report in The Times of India, the SP chief scrutinised around 4,200 names and his selection of candidates indicates at a “tilt” towards his brother Shivpal. All the 149 names declared for the seats the party lost in the 2011 state polls were in Shivpal’s list.
Feud Within SP Set to Escalate
What is also likely to trigger a fresh round of intra-party feuding is the fact that 53 sitting legislators have been denied tickets. These include senior minister and Akhilesh's close aide Arvind Singh 'Gop', whose ticket has been given to Rakesh Verma, son of senior party leader Beni Prasad Verma.
Ayodhya legislator and Akhilesh’s close aide, Pawan Pandey, has also been denied a ticket, while 176 incumbent legislators have been re-nominated. Party leaders informed that a staggering 4,200 persons had applied for party tickets.
Mulayam’s decision to ignore his son’s objections to certain names has not gone down well with the CM, who said that he will take up the matter with his father to make sure deserving candidates get tickets, reports CNN News18.
No Mahagathbandhan in UP
Reacting to questions by the media, Mulayam also said that the SP will not be part of any “Mahagathbandhan” and will fight the election alone.
This announcement by Mulayam is sure to upset Akhilesh, who earlier in the month had spoken favourably of a SP-Congress pre-poll alliance. Speaking to the media, the CM had said:
Though samajwadis are going to form majority government in the state, if alliance takes place, it will win over 300 (of the 403) seats. The final decision in this regard will be taken by Netaji.
(With inputs from agencies and The Times of India)
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