In the ongoing Lok Sabha election, the Samajwadi Party has done many flip-flops in ticket distribution but not many thought that the decision of party president Akhilesh Yadav contesting from Kannauj will also come as a second thought. After declaring his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav as the candidate, Mr. Yadav decided to take on the BJP’s Subrata Pathak, who inflicted a surprise defeat on Mr. Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav in 2019, on the last day of nomination for the fourth round.
Party sources are describing it as a well-thought-out strategy, though. Spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi said, “Akhilesh ji has entered the fray on popular demand.”
A party leader, requesting anonymity, said Bhaiyya ji, as Mr. Yadav is called in the region, wanted to check how much the grassroots worker wanted him to contest. “After seeing the electorate’s response in the first round and the desperation of the leaders of the ruling party in their language, it was felt it will be prudent if Akhilesh ji himself enters the ring from the traditional seat of the party.” Perhaps that is what Mr. Yadav meant when he told reporters “Strike when the iron is hot...” after filing the nomination papers on Thursday.
