Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav along with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav formally kicked off the poll campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Ferozabad on Friday.
Akhilesh was elected to Lok Sabha from Ferozabad seat in the 2009 general election and at present his cousin and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav’s son Akshay Yadav represents the constituency.
The launching of poll campaign from Ferozabad is politically significant for Samajwadi Party as Akhilesh’s estranged uncle and bitter rival Shivpal Singh Yadav is likely to contest from the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.
Shivpal has floated his party — Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia).
Both Akhilesh and Mulayam targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party for its failure to deliver on promises made during the 2014 general election and demonetisation of high value currency notes.
Address a meeting held to launch the SP poll campaign, Mulayam said, “The 2019 general election will decide the destiny of India. The BJP has a lot of fund and you can counter it only by your hard work and sweat. Take a firm resolve to dislodge the BJP in the 2019 polls.”
Making a fervent appeal to the voters for supporting sitting MP Akshay Yadav, the SP patron said, “Akshay Yadav is a bright young man who will serve your interests well. I have never seen such a huge turnout in a poll meeting in Ferozabad and this will definitely send a good message across UP and also in neighbouring states.”
Targeting the welfare schemes launched by the BJP government, Akhilesh said, “The BJP claims to have provided crores of LPG connections to poor people across the state but very few people have the money to refill the empty cylinders.”
The SP chief reminded the gathering that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to double farmers’ income but there was no let up in the plight of potato growers as they were forced to either go for distress sale or throw the commodity on highways.
In the 2009 general election, Akhilesh Yadav successfully contested from two Lok Sabha seats—Kannauj and Firozabad — but vacated the Ferozabad seat later. His wife Dimple Yadav had contested the by-poll but was defeated by Raj Babbar of Congress.
Cautioning the locals, Akhilesh said, “I had contested election from this seat and Dimple too but some people misled you, so take care this time.”
