Lucknow, Due to the displeasure of uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav and former minister Mohammad Azam Khan, SP President Akhilesh Yadav seems to be in trouble in the elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The prestige of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is also at stake for the 11 Rajya Sabha seats to be held on June 10 after the crushing defeat in the assembly and legislative council elections. Out of these 11 seats in the Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to get seven and the SP three. Whereas for the 11th seat, there is expected to be a struggle between the BJP and the SP. If this happens, all the leaders of the party, who are unhappy with the working of Akhilesh Yadav in the SP, can feed some gulp. It is a big challenge for Akhilesh Yadav to keep these angry MLAs united and also to retain party leaders who intend to go to Rajya Sabha. It is being said that this election is a big and big test for Akhilesh Yadav.
There is truth in this statement. According to senior journalist Girish Pandey, there is already a tussle in the SP regarding Shivpal Yadav and Azam Khan episode. BSP chief Mayawati is also trying to prove Akhilesh Yadav as political babus regarding Azam Khan. Shivpal and Azam Khan’s displeasure has remained a major issue in the SP since the results of the assembly elections. Shivpal Yadav has surrounded not only Akhilesh but Mulayam Singh Yadav on the question of SP ignoring Azam Khan. Although Akhilesh Yadav has been told many times that his party is with Azam Khan. But Azam Khan and Shivpal along with his supporters are not satisfied with this statement of the MLA SP chief and he may move around in the voting for the 11th seat in the Rajya Sabha elections. This possibility cannot be ruled out. In such a situation, it will be a big challenge for the SP camp to keep those MLAs united.
Akhilesh Yadav’s second challenge is the large number of leaders who aspire to go to the Rajya Sabha. It is believed that Akhilesh Yadav will give one seat to his ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary, out of the three seats he is to win. The RLD-SP alliance has been going on for a long time. Apart from this, Akhilesh Yadav wants to make former bureaucrat Alok Ranjan, who was the Chief Secretary of UP, as the candidate. He has been associated with SP for a long time. Alok Ranjan played an important role in preparing the manifesto of SP in this time’s assembly elections. There is talk of making SP leader Abu Hasan Azmi a candidate from Maharashtra for the third seat. Apart from this, SP colleague Om Prakash Rajbhar also intends to send his son to Rajya Sabha. According to a leader close to Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan also wants a ticket for his well-wisher. Apart from these, many SP leaders are claiming their candidature for the Rajya Sabha.
The strength of MLAs of SP and its allies RLD and SubhaSP is 125. Because of them, she can take out four seats. But in the present condition of SP, Akhilesh Yadav will be able to achieve this goal, the SP leaders are not making any claim about it.
