Akhilesh Yadav, the current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the national president of Samajwadi Party, has made it clear that he will not be contesting the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, laying to rest all rumours about the constituency from which he will be contesting.
Instead of contesting in this election, Yadav, who is a Legislative Council member, will be seen campaigning for all the candidates of his party.
The decision was taken by Yadav after he quickly called a meeting at the Samajwadi Party office on Friday, India Today reported. He is said to have gauged the sentiments of the office bearers and party workers at the meet and came to this conclusion.
"Some TV channels are running that I will contest from Sarojini Nagar in Lucknow. This is a plant by Sharda Pratap Shukla. I am not contesting from anywhere. I am an MLC till 2018 and I will campaign for all," Yadav told his party workers, according to the report.
Yadav had previously expressed his wish to contest from Bundelkhand. Ground reports from Babina and Charkhari seats dissuaded him from contesting there. Another seat which was also analysed was the Sarojini Nagar seat, but its prospects too did not look bright and he decided against contesting in this year's election.
Following the discontent with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ahkilesh has been the choice for a majority of sitting MLAs and party workers.
Yadav, who is only 43, has also tied up with the Congress to regain their core minority vote, something that his father always managed to.
Meanwhile, rival Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) is looking to poach the minority votes. BSP even went on to field 99 Muslim candidates.
