‘Kannauj seat no longer safe’, Aparna Yadav warns Akhilesh

Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party patriarch late Mulayam Singh Yadav, has said that the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat is no longer a cakewalk for the Samajwadi Party.

Aparna, who is now in the BJP, said, “Akhilesh Yadav is following in his father’s footsteps. Whenever Mulayam Singh believed the party needed him, he would enter the electoral fray himself.”

She, however, warned her brother-in-law not to take things for granted.

“It won’t be a cakewalk for the Samajwadi Party in Kannauj,” she added,

This is the first time that Aparna has openly spoken against Akhilesh Yadav

She claimed that Subrat Pathak, the sitting BJP MP from Kannauj, has done a lot of work in the constituency, making it a challenging battleground for the SP.

“A lot of seats in UP were considered safe due to Mulayam Singh, my father-in-law,” Aparna said, adding, “He made those the SP’s stronghold through his efforts and people’s connect. But the BJP has emerged victorious on those seats too.”

Talking about SP’s decision to field Akhilesh Yadav from Kannauj, she claimed the party was compelled to adopt a defensive strategy against the BJP.

“These INDI Alliance leaders are afraid now. So they have no choice but to field senior leaders to take on the BJP, this is their strategy to try to defeat Prime Minister Modi,” she stated.

She also said that the BJP holds sway in Kannauj, and the voter is smart enough to know that PM Modi has done a lot of work.

“Narendra Modi will be elected as the Prime Minister for the third time, no matter whoever is in the fray,” she added.

Akhilesh Yadav filed his nomination papers on Thursday, seeking to reclaim a seat he previously held.

The SP had initially announced Tej Pratap Yadav as the candidate for the constituency, but 48 hours later, the party replaced him with Akhilesh Yadav.

Akhilesh Yadav won the Kannauj seat in 2000, 2004, and 2009. His wife, Dimple Yadav, subsequently represented the constituency, winning in 2012 and 2014 before losing to Subrat Pathak of the BJP in 2019.

Voting will be held in Kannauj on May 13 in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.