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Will Azam’s stronghold Rampur see Akhilesh’s candidature?
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav may contest Rampur Lok Sabha seat, suggested by Azam Khan. Rampur has significant Muslim, OBC, and Dalit voters.
A day after Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav met the party’s senior leader Azam Khan in Sitapur jail, speculation surfaced on Saturday that the SP chief may contest the Rampur Lok Sabha seat, which the BJP wrested from the opposition party in the June 2022 by-poll.
No one from the Yadav family has ever contested the Rampur seat, which was represented by Azam Khan (2019-2022), a 10-time former MLA from Rampur and has about 42% Muslim voters, 26% OBCs and 17% Dalits.
The suggestion about Akhilesh’s Rampur candidature may have come from Azam when the two leaders met for about 30 minutes in Sitapur jail on Friday, people aware of the development said.
After the meeting, Akhilesh had told reporters in Sitapur: “Had a discussion with him (Azam Khan) over Rampur and some other seats”.
Before the meeting, party insiders had said that Akhilesh would consult Azam about candidates for Rampur, Moradabad, and Bijnor.
These three seats are among the eight in Uttar Pradesh going to polls in the first phase on April 19. Only two working days remain for nominations to be filed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The SP-BSP alliance had won five of these eight seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls while the BJP clinched three.
The SP won Moradabad and Rampur while the BSP bagged Saharanpur, Bijnor and Nagina. The BJP won Kairana, Muzaffarnagar and Pilibhit.
“I was there with Akhileshji and Azam Khan saheb during their jail meeting. When I was there, Azam Khan had not made any suggestions on any seat. But there was a portion of the meeting in which only Azam saheb and Akhileshji were there. I can’t say anything about what transpired between them during those moments,” said Samajwadi Party’s Rampur district president Ajay Sagar, who was appointed to the post a fortnight back.
“If he enters the fray, we will fight the election strongly and make him win. After all, he is our party’s national president,” Sagar said.
The speculation has been strengthened by the fact that Akhilesh is not contesting the Azamgarh seat, which he had won in 2019 only to vacate it in 2022 on his maiden election to the state assembly from Karhal in Mainpuri.
Earlier, there was a buzz in party circles that Akhilesh may contest from Azamgarh and Kannauj both. But now the party has fielded Akhilesh’s cousin and former Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav in Azamgarh.
Akhilesh had won the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in 2000 (by-poll), 2004 and 2009).
Unlike Azamgarh, Kannauj, Mainpur, Firozabad, Sambhal and Badaun, no Yadav family member ever contested the Rampur Lok Sabha seat, which along with its assembly segments were considered the Azam Khan family’s turf. The candidates there were decided by Azam even during the late party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s time.
“Mostly, Azam Khan saheb makes certain suggestions and comments cryptically and sarcastically. So, I cannot for sure interpret that if he suggested Akhileshji contest Rampur,” said an SP leader and close lieutenant of Azam Khan in Rampur.
Azam contested and won his first Lok Sabha polls in 2019 from Rampur.
Before that, all the Rampur candidates of the SP, including two-time Rampur SP winner Jaya Prada, were chosen with Azam’s consent.
The SP won the seat thrice (Jaya Prada in 2004 and 2009 and Azam Khan in 2019. Jaya Prada contested the 2019 election on the BJP ticket but lost). The BJP won the seat four times (Rajendra Kumar Sharma in 1991, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in 1998, Naipal Singh in 2014 and Ghanshyam Lodhi in the 2022 by-poll).
The Congress won it nine times, the first time in 1952 when it was represented by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and the last in 1999 when Begum Noor Bano was the victor.
