Mulayam Singh Yadav to contest polls from Mainpuri

Lucknow: Surprising those who thought he would be quitting active politics after being ousted by son Akhilesh Yadav as SP president, veteran leader Mulayam Singh Yadav announced that he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election form Mainpuri instead of Azamgarh.

In 2014, Mulayam Singh Yadav had contested from Azamgarh as well as Mainpuri and had won both the seats. He later resigned from Mainpuri and his grand nephew Tej Pratap Yadav was elected from Mainpuri in the by-election.

“The people of Mainpuri have given me love and they need me. I will contest in 2019 from here”, he said.

If Mr Yadav contests from Mainpuri, his grand-nephew Tej Pratap Yadav will have to scout for a new seat.

Referring to the ongoing Gujarat elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav said that though he did not trust the EVMs, he also knew that the Samajwadi Party would lose in all the five seats where it had put up candidates.

The SP leader also said that the Congress should have taken stricter action against Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer who had made derogatory remarks against the Prime Minister. “Suspension is no punishment, the Congress should have expelled him,” he said.

He lamented that the politics of the country had seen great deterioration and attacks were getting increasingly personal, which was not a healthy sign.