Samajwadi Party’s election campaign in Noida hits a roadblock due to family feud

The ongoing fight between Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s camp and his son, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, has impacted the election campaign in Noida, Dadri and Jewar constituencies.

The ongoing fight between Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s camp and his son, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, has impacted the election campaign in Noida, Dadri and Jewar constituencies.

Samajwadi Party workers are confused, disappointed and have stopped election meetings as the fight in the top leadership is not coming to a conclusion. (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

Samajwadi Party workers are confused, disappointed and have stopped election meetings as the fight in the top leadership is not coming to a conclusion.

The SP had on March 25, 2016 fielded businessman Ashok Chauhan from Noida seat for 2017 assembly polls expected to take place in February or March this year. The party had also fielded Bevan Nagar from Jewar and Ravinder Bhati from Dadri seats.

Read: History repeating itself? Mulayam followed Lohia, Akhilesh his father

The three candidates as well as the party workers are now confused and unenthusiastic about election meetings and waiting for the crisis to end.

“Each candidate is worried about their candidature now. You don’t want to work when it’s so chaotic. We are not even sure about the party symbol, Cycle, as the fight has reached election commission of India. Earlier, we had meetings with people every day asking for support for our party. Now we are waiting for the dispute to get over,” said Raghvendra Dubey, spokesperson of Samajwadi party unit in Noida.

Three candidates are considered close to Shivpal Yadav, who was expelled by Akhilesh Yadav from the party on Sunday.

Rakesh Yadav, president of Noida unit of SP, said the candidates will remain the same. Rakesh is considered close to Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Read: Akhilesh Yadav needs SP cycle to change the poll narrative in UP

However, Akhilesh Yadav supporters said all three candidates will be replaced as the chief minister was of the view that other workers were a better choice. Akhilesh supporters are camping in Noida while those close to Mulayam are with him in Delhi.

“As of now Akhilesh Yadav has released names of over 200 candidates for the assembly polls in the state. The CM is likely to seek feedback from workers and revise the names of the candidates for many seats, including three in Gautam Budh Nagar. Since he is the national president of the party, he will also form a new national executive committee, parliamentary board and district level teams too,” said Surendra Nagar, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and general secretary of Samajwadi Party.

Nagar and his supporters are camping in Lucknow to support the chief minister.

Read: Noida Authority removes illegal billboard of Samajwadi Party