The Samajwadi Party, known for its clout of the Yadav vote bank, this time is trying for a new political experiment by not giving tickets to any Yadavs outside the Saifai family.
In a first, the five Yadavs who have been fielded in this election are all members of the Saifai family.
Besides, the number of Yadavs contesting from the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Lok Sabha polls had been cut down by more than half from 11 in 2019 and 13 in 2014.
This is quite different from the policy of late SP patron Mulayam Singh who had reached the top on the basis of Yadav politics and had encouraged the Yadavs in electoral politics from all over the state.
Mulayam Singh used to field Yadavs on three to four seats in every Lok Sabha election. However, this new experiment of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will be tested on the Yadav vote bank which has about 19.4 per cent share in the state.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders are targeting SP over dynasty politics and are also raking up the Yadav sentiments by highlighting the denial of tickets to the community leaders, except for the Saifai family members.
Rubbing salt into wounds, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, while campaigning in the Yadav belt recently, accused the Saifai family of ignoring the Yadav clan.
The Samajwadi Party is contesting the crucial general election on 62 seats and till date, 59 candidates have been declared. Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, Akhilesh Yadav from Kannauj, Dharmendra Yadav from Azamgarh, Akshay Yadav from Firozabad and Aditya Yadav from Badaun are some of the party leaders in the fray.
While Akhilesh and Dimple are husband-wife, Dharmendra , Akshay and Aditya are the cousins of Akhilesh Yadav.
While four of the five Saifai family contestants are fighting the polls in the Yadav belt of Etawah, except for Azamgarh which is in Purvanchal, another Yadav bastion.
SP’s chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary clarified that winnability is the only criteria to give the tickets to the Saifai family members.
Mulayam Singh became MP for the first time in the year 1999. He was a seven-time MP, while Akhilesh started his political journey in the year 2000 from the Lok Sabha by-election.
In the year 2014, SP had given tickets to 13 Yadavs, out of which five, including Mulayam, were winners. Similarly, in 2019, 11 Yadavs got tickets, out of which they won five seats. Apart from Mulayam and Akhilesh, others had lost.