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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
Pervez Siddiqui | TNN

Uttar Pradesh: Dimple Yadav, Azam Khan's kin likely to be SP picks for Azamgarh, Rampur bypolls

LUCKNOW: For the Samajwadi Party, the Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls may end in a “family affair”. The party on Sunday dropped broad hints that Azamgarh seat will be contested by someone from the Yadav clan – possibly former MPs Dimple Yadav or Dharmendra Yadav – while Rampur candidate will be someone of party veteran Azam Khan’s choice and could be a member of his family.

The developments come days after PM Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Kanpur attacked the opposition over dynastic politics and said that democracy in the country can be strengthened only when parties shun nepotism and allow the youth of the country to reach the top positions.

Despite June 6 being the last day of filing nominations for LS bypolls, SP strategists have kept their cards close to their chest and have not formally announced the names of the two candidates. However, social media handles of SP workers and leaders were flooded with posters and appeals which hinted towards the likely candidates for the two seats.

A ‘poster’ catching eyeballs on social media is the one purportedly released by Akhilesh Yadav — the former CM’s namesake and SP MLA from Mubarakpur in Azamgarh. The poster extends good wishes to “Respected Dimple Yadav ji” for being named as the candidate for the bypoll and declares that nomination papers will be filed on June 6 at Collectorate Building in Azamgarh. The poster has photographs of Mulayam, Akhilesh and Dimple and that of the MLA as well.

For the Rampur seat, a formal appeal seems to have been issued by the Azam Khan camp in the form of a poster carrying a photograph of Azam alongside a lion. The ‘appeal’ reads: “All office bearers of Samajwadi Party and ‘Azamwadis’ are requested to reach the (Rampur) party office in large numbers at 11am (on Monday) where Azam Khan will announce the name of the party candidate. Thereafter, Azam Khan will lead the nomination procession to the district collectorate where the candidate will file the nomination papers.”

Though several theories are afloat about the possible reasons behind SP being so secretive about the two candidates, the one that is gaining traction in the political circles is about Akhilesh’s game plan to counter BJP’s possible plan of pitting Aparna Yadav. If Akhilesh had named Dimple Yadav or Dharmendra as candidates, BJP could have fielded Aparna Yadav against them to spice up the political battle. In case of Dimple, it would have been one Mulayam Bahu pitted against another Mulayam Bahu (Aparna) — a never-before kind of a battle of prestige for SP and BJP.

The BJP has announced the name of Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Nirahua from Azamgarh.

Another theory doing the rounds is that SP wanted to field Bamcef co-founder and former MP Balihari Babu’s son Sushil Anand from the Yadav-dominated Azamgarh to showcase his efforts towards pushing for Dalit-Yadav unity. However, the proposal did not go down well with most of the MLAs on all 10 assembly seats of Azamgarh district. The opposition from the ground level was communicated to the SP leadership, apparently prompting Akhilesh to think over the issue.

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