LUCKNOW: After the Lok Saba poll debacle, the ruling BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had deployed 30 ministers and 15 senior leaders as “paalaks (caretakers)” to the 10 assembly seats going to by-poll. Whereas,the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) and its INDI Alliance partner Congress have also pulled up their socks to repeat their LS feat in the UP by-poll.
In order to take on the BJP head on, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has appointed the party PDA poster boy and Faizabad MP Awdhesh Prasad as in-charge of Milkipur assembly seat which was vacated by Prasad after getting elected to Lok Sabha defeating BJP’s sitting MP Lallu Singh.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken his party’s command in Milkipur and has been overseeing the poll preparations there. Yogi has already paid at least two visits to the assembly segment in the run-up to the bypoll. Besides Milkipur, he is also taking care of poll preparations in the Katehari assembly seat vacated by sitting SP MLA Lalji Verma who got elected to Lok Sabha from Ambedkarnagar.
Apart from Milkipur, Akhilesh Yadav has been appointed as the party’s by-poll in-charges on five other seats. As per the SP insiders, one or two seats could be given to ally Congress.
It may be recalled that SP and Congress had announced to contest the Assembly by-polls on 10 seats together. However, the picture on seat sharing between the two parties is yet to be cleared.
SP is yet to announce candidates for the four seats including Kundarki in Moradabad, Khair in Aligarh
Meanwhile, the SP has appointed party MLA Shivpal Yadav from Jaswantnagar as in-charge of Katehari seat in Ambedkarnagar district. SP’s Chandauli MP Virendra Singh has been appointed in-charge of Majhawan seat in Mirzapur district, former UP minister and Akhilesh Yadav’s close associate Chandradev Singh Yadav has been given the responsibility of Karhal, the stronghold of SP, while party MLA Indrajeet Saroj has been made in-charge of Phulpur seat in Prayagraj district. Similarly, party MLA Rajendra Kumar has been entrusted with the responsibility of Sisamau, the seat which got vacated due to the disqualification of SP sitting MP Irfan Solanki.
As per the SP sources, the party in-charge on the remaining four seats including Kundarki in Moradabad, Khair in Aligarh, Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad Sadar will be announced shortly. Of the 10 seats up for grabs, Kundarki, Milkipur, Katehari, Karhal and Sisamau-- have been vacated by the SP while Meerapur had the sitting MLA of RLD.
Meanwhile, BJP has vacated Khair, Ghaziabad and Phulpur while the remaining Manjhwan has the NISHAD party’s MLA who has been elected to lok sabha from Bhadohi on a BJP ticket.
On the other hand, the Congress has also announced the names of in charges on all 10 seats to work in tandem with their SP counterparts. Those who have been named by UPCC chief Ajay Rai include Amethi MP KL Sharma for Sisamau (Kanpur), Saharanpur MP Imran Masood for Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Sitapur MP Rakesh Rathore for Kundarki (Moradabad), Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia for Ghaziabad, Prayagraj MP Ujjawal Raman Singh for Phulpur (Prayagraj) and party MLA Virendra Chaudhury for Majhawan.
Senior party leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui has been given the in-charge of Katehari, former MLA Akhilesh Pratap Singh will take care of Milkipur, former MLA Rajkumar Rawat for Khair and Ramnath Sikarwar for Karhal.
