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Akhilesh to visit Azamgarh on Aug 23, first time after losing by-polls
The political circles of UP will watch the visit and events around it as Akhilesh Yadav had faced severe criticism for not visiting Azamgarh and Rampur during the LS by-polls to both the seats. The party lost both the strongholds to the BJP.
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav will visit Azamgarh for the first time since his party lost the citadel to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2022 Lok Sabha by-polls held in June.
“The SP national president will visit Azamgarh on August 23 now instead of the earlier scheduled date of August 20,” said the former district president of the party Havaldar Singh.
The political circles of UP will watch the visit and events around it as Akhilesh Yadav had faced severe criticism for not visiting Azamgarh and Rampur during the LS by-polls to both the seats. The party lost both the strongholds to the BJP.
The party outfit in Azamgarh is preparing for Akhilesh Yadav’s visit. He is likely to meet the party leaders and workers, but the primary purpose of the visit is (as announced by the party) to meet Azamgarh SP MLA Ramakant Yadav in jail. Ramakant Yadav won the 2022 UP assembly polls as an SP candidate from Azamgarh’s Phoolpoor Pawai constituency, but on July 25 he surrendered before the MP-MLA court in two cases lodged against him in 1998 (attempt to murder) and 2016 (disturbing public order and peace). He is also accused in the Azamgarh hooch tragedy in which 13 persons died in February 2021.
An SP leader from Azamgarh said: “All the cases filed against Ramakant Yadav are politically motivated”.
The last time Akhilesh Yadav visited Azamgarh was in March to consult the party leaders there regarding the plan to resign his Azamgarh Lok Sabha membership. Akhilesh was Azamgarh MP when he won the Karhal (Mainpuri) assembly seat in 2022. He eventually resigned from the Azamgarh LS seat and became the leader of opposition in UP Assembly by retaining his Karhal assembly membership. Akhilesh had also visited Azamgarh in April. But he had not visited it or Rampur in the run-up to the LS by-polls in June.
The then SP ally, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar had criticised Akhilesh for not campaigning for the party candidates in the LS by-polls in Azamgarh and Rampur. After the poll results, he blamed Akhilesh for the defeat.
However, in a press conference in Lucknow in July, Akhilesh, had said that he did not campaign because the party outfits in Azamgarh and Rampur had asked him not to do so as the party would win the polls. Akhilesh had blamed malpractices by the ruling BJP for the SP’s defeat in the by-polls.
