Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Minority Affairs minister Azam Khan will campaign in Assam in the run up to the Assembly polls in the north-eastern state. Elections will be held in two phases in Assam on April 4 and April 11 and the Samajwadi Party is contesting 27 seats there.
Assam state chief of Samajwadi Party, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury said that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was likely to campaign for the seats going to polls in the second phase. He said Rajya Sabha MP and senior West Bengal leader, Kironmay Nanda is co-ordinating poll-related issues of Assam with the party’s central office in Delhi.
Choudhury said that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Azam Khan will also campaign during the electioneering process in Assam but a schedule of the three leaders is yet to be drawn up. Choudhury said that the SP has entered into a electoral understanding with two small political outfits of Assam while negotiations with the left parties are on for some more seats. He said that in the first phase of the elections, SP will contest 10 seats in the first phase and 17 in the second phase.
Ruling out the possibility of any truck with Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) led by perfume businessman and MP Badruddin Azmal, Choudhury said, “The party did consider the idea of opening dialogue with AUDF ahead of the polls were announced but shelved it after its hobnobbing with the BJP.’’ The Assam leader said, “We will not like to touch the so called outfit of Muslims, as they have a tacit pact with the BJP and have fielded dummy candidates to facilitate BJP’s win.’’
“SP has so far announced six candidates for the first phase of the elections in Assam. Name of the candidates for other constituencies for the first and second phases will be announced after approval by the party,” said Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury.