Even before the elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) is being discarded by the political pundits as well as opinion polls. In fact, any outside chances of offering a credible rivalry to Yogi Adityanath is being cut short by party’s series of suicidal moves.
SP-RLD announces tickets
Things are not going well for Samajwadi party. Discontent among coalition partners, people in the family flocking to political rivals, ticket distribution to tainted names are some of the main issues lessening Akhilesh Yadav led party’s prospects in 2022 UP assembly elections.
On Thursday, January 13, coalition of SP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) announced candidates on 29 seats. SP will be contesting on 10 seats, while RLD announced their candidates for 19 seats in western Uttar Pradesh. These include some of the strategically important seats such as Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Aligarh, Agra, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Hapur, and Ghaziabad.
SP decided to go with winnability as the main factor behind candidate selection. Spokesperson Abbas Haider said, “Winnability of a candidate is the first criteria for ticket distribution in the alliance. The party workers are also being kept in mind during the process.”
Tainted names in Samajwadi party
Meanwhile, selecting Nahid Hussain from Kairana turned out to be a big political blunder. Just after he filed his nomination, Nahid was arrested by Police under Gangster Act on January 15. He was sent into 14-day judicial custody. Seeing its ticket distribution getting tainted, SP decided to field Iqra Hassan, his sister from Kairana.
On the other hand, Muharram Ali has joined the SP. He is accused in 87 cases, including Saharanpur Riots. In opposition to Ali joining the fold of SP, 15 party workers have resigned from SP.
https://twitter.com/epanchjanya/status/1483351968898707457
CM Yogi was quick to comment on SP’s ticket distribution. Speaking at an event in Ghaziabad, he said, “By announcing criminals responsible for the exodus of traders from Kairana, criminals of Muzaffarnagar riots, and professional history-sheeters as its candidates, the Samajwadi Party has once again revealed its true character,” He further added, “When BJP comes (back) to power in UP, we will bring these criminals to justice,”
Read more: How Yogi Adityanath took on Gangster Atiq Ahmed and destroyed him
Coalition partner revolts
On the other hand, members of coalition partner RLD have come out against the ticket distribution. RLD is not happy with 8 seats going to SP. These seats include some major areas in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut. According to RLD, these seats are their strongholds and should not have gone to the SP. In a statement to Times of India, senior RLD leaders said, “this could even put the alliance between Jayant Chaudhary and Akhilesh Yadav in jeopardy”.
Aparna Yadav joins BJP
Meanwhile, in the latest development Aparna Yadav, daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav has joined BJP. Her husband Prateek Yadav is the step-brother of Akhilesh Yadav. She has been a vocal supporter of the BJP government in the past and considers CM Yogi as her brother. She had also made a donation of Rs 11 lakh to the construction of the Ram Mandir.
Read more: While Aparna Yadav stands firm against Azam Khan’s comments, Dimple Yadav refrains from commenting
After joining the party, Aparna said, “I am very thankful to BJP. The nation always comes first for me. I admire PM Modi’s work”
Improved law and order under Yogi Adityanath will be one of the main election issues in the state. Akhilesh Yadav’s government was already been under fire on this issue. Now, their doubling down by including tainted names does not look to be working.