UP Assembly elections: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to not contest polls

Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he will not be contesting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls early next year. The SP supremo also said that the alliance stitched between his party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the 2022 elections has been finalised. “I will not be contesting the assembly polls,” said Yadav, who is also MP from Azamgarh and the Chief Minister candidate of his party for the upcoming UP polls. On being asked about taking his uncle Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) along in the upcoming elections, he said, “I don’t have any problem in this. He and his men will be given due honour". The Samajwadi Party had failed to retain power in the 2017 UP assembly elections and had bagged only 47 seats. The BJP won the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls by winning a whopping 312 seats after which Yogi Adityanath was made the chief minister of the state. Earlier on Sunday, Yadav stirred up controversy after he spoke of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the same breath as leaders who fought for India’s Independence, prompting criticism from the BJP. He made the comment while addressing a public meeting in Hardoi. At the same gathering, he claimed that all sections of people in the state have made up their minds to elect an SP government in the 2022 elections. After the SP comes to power, Uttar Pradesh will get back on the path to growth and prosperity. Taking a dig at the ruling BJP, he said that the party has only one thing to do — renaming projects completed by the previous SP government. “The BJP is inaugurating all projects undertaken by the Samajwadi Party. ‘Baba Mukhyamantri’ is an amazing chief minister who has not inaugurated any work done by his government,” Yadav said, referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. With input from agencies