Supporters jostling for selfies, Akhilesh leads roadshow in Ganj

Lucknow: With just three days left for voting in Lucknow, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held a 1.5-kilometre-long roadshow — from KD Singh Babu Stadium to Mahatma Gandhi statue at GPO — in Lucknow on Friday evening.Accompanied by Ravidas Mehrotra, the INDIA bloc candidate for the seat, Akhilesh, riding in a black SUV, waved to the crowd all through the route.SP corporators and MLAs had set up stalls with pumps to shower floral petals on their former chief minister, Akhilesh, who kept shaking hands with the supporters all the way.Some supporters had painted their torsos in red and white, the Samajwadi Party colour. Many supporters offered bouquets and cutouts with different messages, including the preamble written on them.Near Halwasiya Market, he was offered a silver crown by Payal Kinnar and a ‘gada’ by other supporters.Lucknow West MLA Arman Khan, along with SP workers, gave a warm welcome by showering flowers at Mayfair intersection and appealed to make Ravidas Mehrotra win with huge votes.Avinish Yadav, an SP supporter, was seen holding a chart with a message, “India Bloc, a shield, to save the Constitution from BJP-led NDA.” “My kids made this chart. We believe in the values of the India Bloc and the importance of protecting our Constitution,” he said.Navratan Yadav, a devoted young supporter of Akhilesh whose interviews went viral on social media recently, was also seen waving SP flags while standing on the roof of an SUV. While Akhilesh arrival around 8pm heralded with resounding echoes of rhythmic beats from ‘dhols’ and a ‘DJ’, the supporters had begun to gather around 5pm at Babu stadium.They included a mix of people, transgenders, youngsters, children, and elderly people — all wearing red scarves and caps and raising slogans such as ‘Akhilesh Yadav Zindabad’ and ‘Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’.The atmosphere was further electrified by the beats of the dhols, and supporters, including transgenders, dancing on the beats.Some carried ‘arti thaal’, hoping to meet Akhilesh and carry out the ritual.Swarm of supporters, mostly with smartphones, were also seen jostling to at least get a glimpse of him, or get a selfie with the SP chief.SP Mahanagar unit president Fakhir Siddiqui Akhilesh a grand welcome. SP Lok Sabha media in-charge Gaurav Singh Yadav and senior SP leader Rajendra Chaudhary were also with him.It took around an hour for the fleet to reach GPO, where Akhilesh paid tributes at the statues of Bhimrao Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi.