Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav will formally kick off the party’s poll campaign from Ghazipur on November 23, a day after his birthday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to address the ongoing Parivartan Yatra at Ghazipur on November 14. The Yatra was flagged off from Ballia on November 9.
This will be the first major rally to be addressed by Mulayam Singh in any east UP district. The rally assumes significance as Qaumi Ekta Dal - the outfit of don-turned-politician Mokhtar Ansari which recently merged with the SP is a significant force in the district.
Mulayam Singh was scheduled to kick off the poll campaign from Azangarh on October 6 but it had to be called off due intra-family dissensions in SP’s first family and also due to fear of opposition to the event by a section of party leaders of Azamgarh.
State SP chief Shivpal Yadav on Friday met party leaders from east UP districts of Varanasi, Jaunpur, Bhadoi and Ghazipur to take stock of the rally preparations. The party has accorded priority to the rally as it will be the first rally ahead of the UP Assembly polls to be addressed by Mulayam Singh in the traditional SP stronghold.
The rally is also important for the SP as it will cement it is expected to cement its ties with the QED. The merger of QED with the SP in June was aborted and had to be called off due to stiff opposition by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The issue was however resolved two months later and the QED was formally merged with the SP.