Samajwadi Party fields Dalit from Azamgarh as BSP opts for a Muslim candidate

Playing a Dalit card the Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav has declared Sushil Anand as the party’s candidate for the Azamgarh Lok Sabha bye-election. The election is slated to be on June 23.

Sushil Anand is the son of Balihari Babu, one of the founding members of BAMCEF.

There were speculations that the Samajwadi Party could field former MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav, or former MP from Budaun Dharmendra Yadav, cousin of Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh. Ground reports even suggested that SP MLA Ramakant Yadav was also getting ready to contest the parliamentary election from Azamgarh.

The bye-election is necessitated after Akhilesh Yadav, who was MP from Azamgarh, resigned after he won the recent assembly elections from the Karhal seat of Mainpuri district. He had a choice to retain Karhal or Azamgarh. He preferred to retain his Vidhan Sabha seat and later was elected as the Leader of Opposition by the Samajwadi Legislature Party.

The political pundits believe that by pitting a Dalit from Azamgarh, Akhilesh has played a master stroke to win over Dalits. By rejecting tickets to Dimple Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav, the SP leadership has successfully countered the opposition allegations that it is a family-run party.

Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali from this seat. Jamali is a two-time MLA and had left BSP to join AIMIM before assembly elections. He returned to the BSP fold a few months back and was declared a candidate from Azamgarh.

“Azamgarh is an SP bastion and a victory of its candidate is almost certain. By giving tickets to a Dalit candidate the party has made an attempt to lure the Dalits. The BSP is fast losing its support base and if SP could win the support of Dalits, it could bring a massive change in its political fortune,” Manoj Bhadra, a political analyst said.

The BJP has not yet declared the name of the candidate. Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirhua is likely to be the party candidate. In the last Lok Sabha election, he had lost to Akhilesh Yadav.