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Akhilesh’s public meet, Dimple’s road show to rev up SP campaign for Milkipur bypoll
Azamgarh MP Dharmendra Yadav to campaign in Milkipur on January 28 while SP MP from Mainpuri Dimple Yadav will hold a road show on Jan 30 in support of party candidate Ajeet Yadav
LUCKNOW The Samajwadi Party has started building momentum for the Milkipur assembly by-poll by deploying its senior leadership for campaigning on the seat, which has become a prestige issue for the BJP after it lost the Faizabad parliamentary seat in 2024 Lok Sabha Polls. The Milkipur seat fell vacant after SP’s Awadhesh Prasad defeated two-time BJP MP from Faizabad, Lallu Singh in the LS polls by 54,567 votes.
The SP has fielded Awadhesh Prasad’s son Ajeet Prasad from this seat against BJP’s Chandrabhan Paswan.
The BJP has also pushed its battery of ministers for campaigning in Milkipur, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath is leading the campaign for the bypoll. The BJP had won seven out of nine seats in the recently held UP assembly bypolls.
Azamgarh MP and SP chief’s cousin, Dharmendra Yadav, will campaign in Milkipur on January 28 while SP MP from Mainpuri Dimple Yadav will hold a grand road show there on January 30 in support of party candidate Ajeet Yadav. Many women MPs/MLAs and senior leaders of women’s wing will also accompany Dimple Yadav in the road show.
Akhilesh Yadav is expected to address a public gathering in Milkipur on February 3, which also happens to be the last day of campaigning for the bypoll, voting for which will held in Milkpur on February 5 while the counting will be done on February 8.
SP leader Udaiveer Singh said, “We are confident that people of Milkipur will support our party against atrocities by police and administration. If they (BJP) could win by sending their battery of ministers, then what stopped them from doing so during 2024 LS polls...the question is what has the BJP government done for the people of Milkipur?”
In the absence of the BSP from the bypoll arena, SP and BJP candidates from the Pasi community are making the contest interesting. On the other hand, the Congress has announced its support to the SP candidate.
The SP won the Milkipur seat in 1996, 2002, 2012 and 2022 state assembly polls, besides 1998 and 2004 by-elections. The BJP has won the seat in 1991 and 2017. Mathura Prasad Tewari won the Milkipur seat for the BJP in 1991 and Baba Gorakhnath bagged it in 2017. Gorakhnath lost to Awadhesh Prasad in 2022.
