Mainpuri bypoll will decide future of Uttar Pradesh, says Shivpal Yadav

With the SP announcing it will give the Khatauli seat to the RLD for fighting the bypoll, deliberations have begun in both the ruling BJP and in Opposition parties

With the upcoming byelection for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant after the demise of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, and in two Assembly constituencies following the disqualification of the sitting MLAs, including the SP’s Muslim face, Azam Khan, the political temperature in Uttar Pradesh is beginning to rise, with Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) founder Shivpal Singh Yadav claiming his party as the “real Samajwadi Party” and inheritors of his late brother Mulayam Singh’s ideas.

He claimed the Mainpuri bypoll will “decide the fate of Uttar Pradesh and the country”, and alleged that his estranged nephew Akhilesh Yadav, the SP president, is “surrounded by sycophants”.

“Mainpuri bypoll will decide the fate of the State and country; he is surrounded by sycophants,” Mr. Shivpal Yadav said in Gorakhpur to media persons, hinting at Mr. Akhilesh Yadav and adding that, in the next two-three days, the situation regarding the bypoll would become clearer. “Whatever the decision will be, it will come in front of all very soon,” Mr. Shivpal Yadav said.

When asked about the candidature of Tej Pratap Singh Yadav from the SP, and the late Mulayam Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav from the BJP, Mr. Shivpal Yadav gave no clear answers.

The byelections to the Mainpuri parliamentary seat, and the Rampur and Khatauli Assembly constituencies, has led to a lot of deliberations in both the ruling BJP and the Opposition SP. The bypolls are scheduled for December 5.

The Opposition SP announced on Wednesday that it will continue its alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and will give the Khatauli seat to the RLD for fighting the bypoll. For the Opposition SP, this is a prestige battle as both the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and the Rampur Vidhan Sabha seat, represented by its founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and 10-time MLA Azam Khan, respectively, are considered the party’s citadel.

Mr. Khan, who was recently disqualified as he was convicted in a hate speech case, is considered the SP’s Muslim face. The ruling BJP is likely to leave no stone unturned in wresting both seats from the SP, which is evident from statements made by the saffron party’s top State leadership. It has planned for a “minorities convention” in Rampur on November 12, and the buzz in Lucknow’s power corridors also hints at the BJP considering a Muslim candidate for the Rampur bypoll. In the Rampur Assembly segment, roughly half the electorate is from the Muslim community.