Akhilesh goes all out to boost SP first family’s Lok Sabha chances: induction drive to pacifying rebels

In the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is pulling out all the stops to strengthen its base in seats that are considered bastions of party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s clan in Uttar Pradesh.

These seats — Azamgarh, Badaun, Firozabad, Kannauj, and Mainpuri — have either been contested by members of the SP first family or by its trusted party leaders over the decades.

The SP managed to induct former BSP MLA Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, a popular Muslim face in Azamgarh, into the party last week.

“Guddu Jamali will bring new energy to the party. This is a signal not just to Azamgarh but to all of eastern UP. A strong leader is joining the party,” Akhilesh said while welcoming Jamali. Jamali’s entry, Akhilesh said, would boost the SP’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) plank.

The SP is hoping that Jamali’s induction will boost its chances in Azamgarh. Akhilesh had won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but resigned after he got elected in the 2022 UP elections. In the bypoll later, his cousin Dharmendra Yadav lost the seat with a slim margin of 8,679 votes. Jamali was the BSP candidate at the time and had garnered 2.66 lakh votes on his own, effectively damaging the SP’s chances.

Meanwhile, in the Firozabad seat, dominated by the Yadav and Muslim communities, Akshay Yadav, another cousin of Akhilesh, has been fielded. To give a shot in the arm to his prospects, Akhilesh has reinducted an influential local leader into the SP fold. On February 23, Akhilesh visited the residence of former SP MLA Azeem Bhai who had finished runner-up in the Firozabad Assembly seat in the 2007, 2012 and 2017 polls on the party’s ticket.

Azim had rebelled and quit the SP to join the BSP after the party did not give him