Akhilesh thanks people for SP's victory in Mainpuri

MAINPURI: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday thanked the people of Mainpuri for the 'historical victory' of party candidate Dimple Yadav in the Mainpuri bypolls, terming it a true tribute to party founder and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Interacting with mediapersons after the results were announced, the SP president said he was happy to declare that "respected chachaji (Shivpal Singh Yadav) and his party (PSPL) have come together with the SP and now, all will work together under one flag."

Shivpal Yadav, who had floated his own party after his relationship with nephew Akhilesh Yadav turned sour, campaigned vigorously in the bypolls in favour of Dimple Yadav. Shivpal Yadav's assembly seat Jaswantnagar is part of the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat.

Dimple Yadav won the Mainpuri parliamentary seat, defeating her nearest rival BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya by margin of over 2,88,461 votes. She thanked all party workers and dedicated the win to 'Netaji'.

The bypoll on the seat was necessitated following Mulayam Singh Yadav's death.

Terming the victory of his party as the win of political rapprochement and a reply to those who have been indulging in negativity, Akhilesh Yadav said the result has given new energy and is a message for 2024, when the next Lok Sabha elections are due.

People of Mainpuri have shown that success can be achieved by working on the ideologies of Dr Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia, he said.

"Police carried out a raid at the residence of the Jaswantnagar block pramukh, I will thank Jaswantnagar MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav who reached there. I am happy that Jaswantnagar has broken its own record in this bypoll by voting in favour of SP," he said.

Yadav congratulated Madan Bhaiya of the RLD, an alliance partner of the SP, for winning the Khatauli Assembly segment bypoll.

He, however, claimed that people in the Rampur Sadar assembly segment were not allowed to vote. Had there been a fair election in Rampur, it would have been the biggest win for the Samajwadi Party, Yadav added.

The BJP won SP leader Azam Khan's stronghold Rampur Sadar assembly seat for the first time.

On Mainpuri, he said, "Though the administration worked on the government's signal, the people here did not listen to it and voted for the SP."

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