Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday released a list of 325 candidates for the coming Assembly elections, and affirmed that the party would go solo in the polls.
In what is perceived as a major snub to his son, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, many MLAs and Ministers close to him are not on the list. Those he was opposed to have been included.
In a tit-for-tat later in the evening, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav sacked the adviser to Housing Development Council Surabhi Shukla, who enjoyed the rank of a Minister of State. Her husband was named SP candidate from Sultanpur, sources in the party said.
The junior Yadav has been talking about the prospects of an alliance with the Congress, sources said.
Open to merger
Earlier in the day, at a hurriedly called preess meet, the party supremo put to rest talks of an alliance with the Congress. “The Samajwadi Party will not have any alliance. If anybody wants a merger, we will do that,” he said with his brother, State SP president Shivpal Yadav, seated next to him. Mr. Akhilesh Yadav was away in Bundelkhand.
Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav once again ruled out projecting his son as the chief ministerial candidate.
Remaining names soon
The list of 365 included 176 sitting MLAs. The names of the candidates for the remaining 78 seats would be announced soon, he said.
Among those absent from the list are Ministers considered to be in the Akhilesh camp: Tez Narayan Pandey, Arvind Kumar Singh ‘Gope’ and Ramgovind Chaudhary. The ticket of Mr. Gope’s constituency Ramnagar (Barabanki) has been given to Rakesh Verma, son of senior Kurmi leader Beni Prasad Verma, who recently made a return to the party aided by Shivpal Yadav. In Ayodhya, Mr. Tez Narayan Pandey was replaced by senior leader Jai Shankar Pandey’s son Ashish Pandey. Mr. Shivpal, in October, expelled Tez Narayan Pandey, also known as Pavan Pandey, from the party, for allegedly slapping Ashu Malik, a party MLC and a close aide of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The list also did not have the name of the Chief Minister himself. Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav said Mr. Akhilesh Yadav could contest from any seat he chose.
(With inputs from PTI )
