New Delhi: It’s a prestige battle featuring the Yadav family and one who turned ‘outsider’ in Karhal, where heavyweights such as Dimple and Shivpal Yadav are minutely campaigning for the Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Pratap Yadav.
Of the nine assembly seats going to the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the late SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav’s family is giving most of its time to Karhal, which falls under Mainpuri that was represented five times in Parliament by Mulayam. His daughter-in-law and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav is now the incumbent member of parliament.
In June, when Akhilesh resigned from Karhal, after winning the Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj, he chose his nephew Tej Pratap to contest on the family’s prestige seat. Tej Pratap was initially named as the party’s candidate from Kannauj, but was subsequently replaced by Akhilesh.
This was one of the reasons behind choosing Tej Pratap from Karahal, but his proximity to both Akhilesh and Dimple is considered as the main reason behind the family’s political investment in him.
Tej Pratap is the son-in-law of former Bihar chief ministers Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi as he is married to their youngest daughter, Raj Lakshmi Yadav. The 36-year-old is also a former MP from Mainpuri, which he represented from 2014 to 2019 after winning the bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of Mulayam.
In a show of strength, Akhilesh, Dimple, Shivpal, Dharmendra and Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav were present when Tej Pratap filed his nomination papers for the bypolls in October.
Up against him is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Anujesh Singh Yadav, who is also related to Akhilesh’s family. Anujesh, who switched over to the BJP from the SP in 2017, is married to Sandhya Yadav, the sister of Dharmendra Yadav, SP MP from Azamgarh and Akhilesh’s cousin.
After the ticket announcement by SP in Lucknow, Dharmendra released a letter stating that he has no relation with Anujesh. But to the BJP candidate’s close aides, he is a son-in-law of the Yadav family. This has made the battle of Karhal being dubbed as a fight between the son-in-law of Lalu versus the son-in-law of Mulayam.
Karhal will vote 20 November, and the results will be declared 23 November.
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Dimple leading from front
Dimple Yadav is leading the campaign for Tej Pratap in Karhal. According to SP functionaries, the Mainpuri MP is doing eight-nine public meetings in a day. She also chairs booth committee meetings every two-three days to take feedback from the workers.
“Bhabhi is very active in these by-polls. It is almost similar to when she was super active during her by-poll, held after Mulayam ji’s death in 2022,” a SP leader told ThePrint.
In the role of a crisis manager, Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal Yadav is not only managing rebels but also meeting those workers who are feeling ignored by the party’s local unit.
“Chacha ji is a six-time MLA from Jaswantnagar, which is hardly 20 km away. He has a strong hold in Etawah-Mainpuri belt. He has personal connections across parties in this belt,” a close aide to Shivpal told ThePrint.
“He is meeting and resolving any grievances that crop up against the Yadav family… As the opposition candidate is also a relative, he is informing everyone that they have no more connection with him ever since he joined the BJP. Dharmendra Yadav is also doing door-to-door campaigns and ‘Nukkad Sabhas’ (small meetings) to stress that they have no more connection with the BJP candidate.”
A few villages of Saifai block fall under the Karhal assembly segment, which the party is sure of winning due to the dominance of Yadav voters, the aide said. “However, the family does not want to take a chance even though they have a personal connection with Karhal.”
The BJP fielded Anujesh to give a twist to this election as Yadav voters hold the key on this seat, according to SP leaders.
According to the caste equations, the Yadavs and the Shakyas matter most in Karhal. The Yadavs comprise almost 35 percent of 3.7 lakh voters in the constituency, while Shakyas are almost 18 percent. The Dalits and the Muslims make up around 12 percent each of the total voters.
Unequal fight?
From being seen as ‘pratinidhi’ (representative’) of the Yadav family to ‘Teju Bhaiya’, ‘Sthaniya Saansad ji’ (local MP), SP functionaries in Karhal explained the importance of Tej Pratap to the Yadav family.
“Teju is the most pampered member of the Yadav family. He is most accessible for everyone in this belt. He is a local representative for them,” SP’s Mainpuri district president Alok Shakya told ThePrint.
“Saifai Mahotsav was a brainchild of Teju’s father Ranveer. When he was a block chief of Saifai block in the 90s, he floated this idea of Mahotsav to Netaji (Mulayam). Since then, this event has become a big event on the local level.”
The way Mulayam loved his nephew Ranveer, it is reflected in Akhilesh’s affection for Teju, he said. “This was also the reason when Netaji vacated Mainpuri in 2014, Teju became the unanimous choice for the family then.”
On the other hand, Anujesh is focussing on raising local issues and pitching the BJP government’s scheme.
His mother Urmilla Yadav, a two-term SP MLA, is campaigning for her son. “’Family comes first. I am campaigning for my son. If they (Akhilesh’s family) do not want any relation with us, then we are also not eager for them,” she told reporters after Anujesh filed his nomination in October last week.
In his media statements, Anujesh mentioned that his family’s reputation was not less than the Yadav family as his mother was a two-term MLA. His grandfather was also active in local politics, he added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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