After much dilly-dallying the Samajwadi Party has made it official that Samajwadi Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav will contest from two parliamentary constituencies of Azamgarh and Mainpuri. Party’s national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav made this announcement here on Tuesday.
"Party workers were asking for Mulayam Singh Yadav to contest from Azamgarh. Bowing to that pressure the party leadership has decided that Yadav will also contest from Azamgarh," Ram Gopal Yadav said in his statement.
Yadav’s candidature from Mainpuri, from where he is sitting MP, was announced almost three months back. It is the first time Yadav Sr. will contest from two parliamentary constituencies. Earlier his son Akhilesh Yadav had contested from two constituencies of Kannauj and Firozabad in 2009 and won both the seats.
It is a shrewd political move of Samajwadi Party leadership to make Mulayam to contest from two constituencies after Bharatiya Janata Party announced Narendra Modi’s candidature from Varanasi. It is believed that Modi’s presence in Varanasi could shift political balance in eastern UP in favour of BJP but now Mulayam’s presence can stem that sweep.
"Mulayam’s presence in Azamgarh will influence all the 32 seats and we will win majority of them," Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry said. Of the 32 lok Sabha seats Samajwadi Party and BSP had 10 won each in 2009 elections while BJP had won 8 and Congress 4 seats.
Azamgarh, a crucial district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which has seen emergence of Muslim politics post-Batla shoot out in New Delhi. The Muslims of that area, lead by local clerics, formed Rashtriya Ulema Council that contested last 2012 assembly election. With Samajwadi Party losing favour with Muslims post-Muzaffarnagar riots it is believed that if Mulayam contests from Azamgarh he would be able to win the confidence of minority community back.
Besides, a few months back local leaders of Azamgarh held a demonstration outside party office in lucknow demanding that Prateek Yadav, the youngest son of Mulayam, should contest the election. Earlier the party had fielded Hawaldar Singh Yadav but later he was replaced by Panchayati Raj minister Balram Singh Yadav.
Azamgarh has a sizeable population of Muslims and Yadavs. The legislator of the area Ramakant Yadav won the election only because of the Yadav support. And if this backward caste shifts to Mulayam, which is the likelihood, there could be problem for BJP here.
Chaudhry said the news of Mulayam Singh contesting from Azamgarh has been greeted with joy. "The response is so good that even before polling we can say that Mulayam has won this seat," Chaudhry told The Pioneer.