LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday picked former Kannauj MP and party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav to continue the legacy of her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav in his pocket borough, Mainpuri, which goes to polls on December 5. The byelection to the Lok Sabha seat was necessitated by the SP patriarch’s death last month.
Assembly Election Results
Dimple’s nomination came as a surprise as Mulayam’s grand-nephew Tej Pratap Yadav was believed to be the party’s top contender for the seat. He had already represented the constituency in the past when he won the 2014 bypoll after Mulayam scored victories in both Azamgarh and Mainpuri seats and chose to retain the former. Besides, ever since Mulayam took ill in 2020, Tej Pratap had been active as his representative in the constituency.
Dimple’s name, however, was finalised after Akhilesh held a series of meetings with party leaders and representatives of Yadav and Muslim communities in Mainpuri, elders in the Yadav clan and senior leaders during his recent stopovers at his native village Saifai on way to and while coming back from Dholpur.
Sources said some elders in the Yadav clan suggested that the elder daughter-in-law was the rightful claimant to Netaji’s legacy while Akhilesh led from the front as the leader of opposition in the assembly.