Lucknow: In a clear snub to Akhilesh Yadav, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday announced candidates for 325 of the 403 Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats, ignoring his son’s objections to certain names and ruled out an alliance with any party for the upcoming polls.
At a hurriedly convened press conference in Lucknow, the SP patriarch released the list of 325 candidates, giving poll tickets to 176 sitting MLAs.
Names of candidates for the rest of the 78 seats would be announced soon, he said, flanked by state party chief Shivpal Yadav, while Chief Minister Akhilesh was away on a tour.
Surprisingly, the list carries names of Sigbatullah Ansari, who is the brother of jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari, and up who faces over 40 criminal cases, including those dealing with murder and attempt to murder allegations.
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Akhilesh, who is believed to be opposed to their nominations, had reportedly asked his father to intervene.
Another name which had upset Akhilesh, Aman Mani Tripathi who is arrested by the CBI in a case related to the killing of his wife, however, did not figure in the list.
The choice of candidates for 175 seats by his warring uncle Shivpal had apparently put off Akhilesh, who prepared his own list of preferred candidates for all the seats and sent it to Mulayam.
Today’s list makes no mention of names of several pro-Akhilesh ministers and MLAs including those of Ram Govind Chaudhary, Pawan Pandey and Arvind Sing Gope (all ministers).
To a question, Mulayam said Akhilesh was “free to contest” the polls from any seat he wanted.
Akhilesh, who was not averse to an alliance with the Congress for the Assembly polls, has been saying that the SP alone would get an absolute majority and in case there is a tie-up with the Congress, the alliance would bag over 300 seats.
“Samajwadi Party is not forming an alliance with anyone,” Mulayam said, ending the speculation of a tie-up between the SP and the Congress.
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