Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav’s real test lies in Phase-III polls

The third phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday will be a crucial test — both politically and personally — for Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is seeking a second straight term after a bruising family feud and a contentious poll alliance he forged with the Congress.

Polling will be held in 69 Assembly seats across 12 central UP districts, often referred to as “Yadavland”. The region has been a Samajwadi Party stronghold built around backward-caste politics in the post-Mandal era by his now-estranged father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Retaining the 55 seats the SP won in 2012 will be a challenge as family has not been able to put up a united front. Targeting his uncle in the SP bastion Etawah, the CM said on Friday that he was leading “the real” Samajwadi Party.

“These very people want to float a new party...the election here is different. Here efforts are being to defeat me...people of Etawah should not fall prey to any such design,” he said. The CM has denied tickets to several senior party leaders because they supported his father during the fight over the party’s control. Mulayam Singh Yadav has ignored all SP candidates and campaigned only for Shivpal Yadav.

Mayawati can’t build UP: Amit Shah

Terming both the BSP and the ruling SP as “corrupt”, BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday alleged neither the “buaa” (aunt) nor the “bhatija” (nephew) could bring development in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a series of poll rallies in Itwa and Khesraha Assembly constituencies in the district, he claimed that only PM Narendra Modi can usher in development. Referring to Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, he said, “One is posing problems for his mother, while the other is giving tough times to his father.”