Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav rued that he would not be contesting this lok Sabha election saying had there been a rule that an MP can remain CM he would have contested this election. ''I have contested all the lok Sabha elections till now after I joined politics in 2000 but this would be the first time I am not contesting it,'' he told reporters here on Tuesday.
''It is very hard to restrain myself from contesting the elections. Ask any Samajwadi Party how much I want to contest this election. But my hands are tied. I have to look after the state first in comparison to my personal interest,'' he said. In the 2009 lok Sabha polls Akhilesh contested from two constituencies of Kannauj and Firozabad. He later vacated Firozabad but his wife Dimple lost to Congress candidate Raj Babbar in the by-elections. later Dimple was elected unopposed from Kannauj lS seat in 2012 after Akhilesh took over as the CM of UP.
Akhilesh entered politics and contested the Kannauj lok Sabha by-elections in 2000 when the seat was vacated by his father and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. In 2004 he retained the seat.