Mulayam’s eye on Modi; to fight from two seats

With Modi contesting from Eastern UP, Mulayam, by declaring his candidature from Azamgarh, which is two-hour's drive from Varanasi, has virtually challenged Modi

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided to contest from two seats - Mainpuri and Azamgarh. The Mainpuri-Etah-Etawah belt happens to be the pocket-borough of Mulayam, but this time round, when the political fortunes of the SP are supposed to have dipped considerably in the post-Muzzafarnagar riots, the SP supremo has decided to move out to try his luck in Eastern UP as well, by contesting from Azamgarh.

With Modi also contesting from Eastern UP, Mulayam, by declaring his candidature from Azamgarh, which is two-hour's drive from Varanasi, has virtually challenged Modi, who claims to sweep the Hindi-heartland and particularly influence the results of the 32 crucial seats in this belt.

The SP leader intends to keep the vote-bank of the Yadavs and the Muslims intact in UP, the reason why he is contesting from the Yadav belt of Mainpuri and in the Muslim-dominated Azamgarh constituency. It was in Azamgarh that AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh had drawn flak from political parties when he visited the place, soon after the Batla House encounter in Delhi, to meet the family of the accused Mohammad Saif. In the race for winning over the Minorities, Mulayam has taken the initiative of daring Modi by contesting from Azamgarh, the seat held by Ramakant Yadav of the BJP.

Interestingly, Ramakant Yadav has won from Azamgarh thrice and from three different parties. In 1999, he won from the SP ticket, in 2004 from the BSP and in 2009 from the BJP.