UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is likely to contest the 2017 assembly election from the Bidhuna assembly constituency in Auriyya district. Presently this seat is held for the Samajwadi Party by Pramod Gupta lS, brother in law of the Samajwadi party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Bidhuna is also the assembly segment of the Kannauj lok Sabha constituency represented by his wife Dimple Yadav since June 2012. Akhilesh Yadav too began his political debut from Kannauj lok Sabha seat in 1999 and also won from this seat in 2004 and 2009 parliament elections.
Akhilesh Yadav, presently member of the State legislative Council, is keen to enter the state assembly from the districts surrounding Etawah like Auriyya, Kannauj and Farrukhababd.
Samajwadi party sources said Chief Minister had summoned Shivnath Singh president of district unit of Samajwadi party Auriyya. SP leaders of Auriyya and local people had submitted a memorandum to the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav urging him to contest from Bidhuna assembly constituency so as to accelerate the development of the district, considered to backward in terms of infrastructure and other facilities.
`` I met the chief minister in lucknow this week as he had sought some information about the district and Bidhuna assembly seat’’, said Shivnath Singh district SP president of Auriyya, adding `` the district SP leaders and other influential people of the district had also demanded from the chief minister to contest from Auriyya’’.
``CM made the debut in politics from Bidhuna seat as its part of the Kannauj lok Sabha seat and its also the land of Ram Manohar lohia, who was elected to parliament in 1962 from Farrukhabad-Etawah lok Sabha seat and Bidhuna was one of the assembly segment’’, said Shivnath Singh.
SP leader of Auriyya said `` we have given the political input asked by the chief minister and it’s for the Akhilesh Yadav and the party chief Mulayam Singh to decide whether he will contest from Auriyya’’. He said `` I believe that the party will announce its decision about fielding Akhilesh Yadav from Bidhuna ahead of polls next year’’.
Shivnath Singh however said `` party will do the due diligence before deciding the candidate from Bidhuna’’. He added `` no election is cakewalk for any body, Dhaniram Verma represented Bidhuna seat for 25 years but lost to a political greenhorn Vinay Shakya of the BSP in 2007 assembly elections’’.
The district chief of the Samajwadi Party's Auraiya unit said the people of Auriyya district want change in next election so they want the chief minister to contest from Bidhuna seat. He said during the cycle rally earlier this month this was conveyed to the party leaders that the people of Bidhuna were unhappy with the present SP MlA, Pramod Gupta.