In his bid to carve out a niche for himself in state’s politics as `leader of development’ Akhilesh Yadav has proposed to contest outside the core are of the Samajwadi party falling in Kanpur and Agra divisions. In the list of candidates submitted by the chief minister to the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav has proposed three seats for himself –all in Bundelkhand region. The seats are Charkhari in Mahoba district, Baberu in Banda and Babina in Jhansi district.
Samajwadi Party sources said the chief minister has consistently maintained that the issues like caste, creed and religion were no longer relevant in politics as the aspirations of the people are growing and they want development of their respective areas which can bring them peace and prosperity. They said the chief minister wants to contest outside the traditional area of influence of the Samajwadi party and wants to contest from Bundelkhand where the SP government has done lot of development work. They said the chief minister is confident that the people will enthusiastically endorse his candidature from all the three constituencies,
Chief Minister is presently the member of the upper house of the UP legislature and his term ends on May 5, 2018. Akhilesh Yadav on December 28 will inaugurate a solar power plant in Kankhaua village of Charkhari sub division of the Mahoba district.
In 2012 assembly election the firebrand Sadvi Uma Bharti of BJP was elected from Charkhari assembly constituency. After her election to lok Sabha from Jhansi in 2014, she had vacated the seat. In the ensuing by election Kaptan Singh Rajput of the Samajwadi party was elected from this seat. He had to resign few months later following his conviction in a murder case. Presently his wife Urmila Devi represents this seat. The Baberu seat in Banda district is held by Vishambhar Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi party while Krishna pal Singh Rajput of the BSP is the MlA from Babina seat in Jhansi district.
Meanwhile noted Hindi poet Gopal Das Neeraj in a letter to Mulayam Singh Yadav has urged him to project Akhilesh Yadav as the chief minister candidate of the Samajwadi party. Neeraj who is chairman of UP Bhasha Sansthan and UP Film vikas parishad has said that akhilesh Yadav will be the best candidate for the party. `` I keep meeting the people from across the state and I am of the opinion that akhilesh Yadav is a leader who enjoys clean image and who has also earned a new image among the people and then party cadres through hard work and style of working’’.