LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party seems to be in a state of persistent confusion over ticket distribution in Uttar Pradesh.After a mix-up in the selection of candidates for Moradabad, Rampur, Meerut, and Baghpat, leading to repeated replacements, the spotlight now shifts to the prestigious Badaun seat, where Shivpal, the uncle of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, has been named as the party candidate.In fact, Akhilesh had already made one change in Badaun. Initially, he had nominated cousin Dharmendra Yadav in the first list, only to replace him with his uncle Shivpal within a couple of days. Dharmendra has been shifted to Azamgarh.Badaun is scheduled for polling in the third phase on May 7th. Shivpal Yadav is already engaged in robust campaigning in the constituency, reaching out to people and holding party workers’ meeting in each assembly segment.Late on Tuesday night, a buzz suddenly started doing rounds in the political circles that Shivpal Yadav may leave Badaun seat for his son Aditya Yadav as Samajwadi Party candidate.The buzz gained weight after a resolution to this effect was formally passed at the party’s ‘karyakarta sammelan’ (party workers’ conference) held in Gunnaur assembly segment of Badaun Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday.The party workers’ conference in Gunnaur was a part of a similar exercise being held in each of the five assembly segments of Badaun LS seat. “Such conferences have already been held in Bisauli, Sahaswan and Badaun assembly segments. In Gunnaur assembly seat, workers turned out in large numbers,” Shivpal said, talking to the media on the sidelines of the conference.Asked about the resolution passed by the party workers seeking Aditya Yadav’s candidature from the seat, Shivpal confirmed the development.“The resolution was passed and now it will be sent to the party president. It is for party’s national leadership to take a call,” he said adding: “… ab rashtriya netritva ki sehmati mil jaani chahiye (Now party’s national leadership’s consent is all that is needed),” he said.However, in a U-turn on Wednesday, Shivpal said that his name had been included in the party’s official list as the candidate from Badaun and would remain unchanged unless the party made a different decision.”Wherever we went and held meetings in Badaun, public made the demand for the candidature of Aditya. They made the demand and they have the right to do that. List is released by the national leadership and it has my name. So I shall be the candidate. Strategies are formed and they can’t be divulged to the media. Let strategy be strategy,” said Shivpal while talking to news persons.In fact, Badaun has been a very prestigious seat for the Samajwadi Party, as it has been represented in Lok Sabha by its candidates half a dozen times since 1996 till 2014. In 2019, BJP’s Sanghmitra Maurya wrested it from SP’s Dharmendra Yadav.Significantly, Shivpal has been trying the political rehabilitation of his son Aditya Yadav for quite some time but party chief Akhilesh Yadav has not been lending an ear to him. He had sought a ticket for Aditya in 2022 Assembly polls as well when his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party -Lohia (PSPL) had contested in alliance with the SP.PSPL finally merged SP after party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s demise in October 2022 and Shivpal played a very crucial role in ensuring the victory of Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri by-poll necessitated by the demise of MSY. However, as per the party insiders, in the ensuing elections, Shivpal was keen on getting a ticket of Lok Sabha for his son Aditya in his place.The party sources also claim that Shivpal wants to limit himself to the state politics and is not interested in going to Centre. Akhilesh Yadav is yet to pay heed to chacha’s wish of establishing Aditya in politics.
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