Lucknow: Rebel candidates are all set to pose a serious threat to the ruling Samajwadi Party in the remaining two phases of the elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is now campaigning intensively to fight back the anti-incumbency factor, will face major roadblocks in eastern UP.
Mr Akhilesh Yadav denied tickets to a number of senior leaders who professed loyalty to either his father Mulayam Singh Yadav or his uncle Shivpal during the recent family feud. These leaders are now contesting against the official SP nominee and this can become a problem for the party as a large section of its grassroots workers have also joined hands with these rebel leaders. In Ballia district, former senior SP leaders Ambica Chau-dhary and Narad Rai, former cabinet ministers, were denied tickets by the new SP leadership. Both have joined the BSP and are now BSP candidates. “Both these leaders have been with Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav for several decades and the party cadres are naturally loyal to them,” admitted a local party worker.
Samajwadi Party’s vote bank is likely to get affected in eastern UP due to the Ansari brothers. Earlier, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav approved the merger of Qaumi Ekta Dal — headed by Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari, and his brothers Afzal Ansari and Sigbatullah Ansari — but Akhilesh turned it down.
The BSP welcomed the Ansari brothers into its fold and gave tickets to Mukhtar Ansari from Mau, his son Abbas Ansari from Ghosi and his brother Sigbatullah from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur. The Ansari brothers wield considerable influence in about half a dozen districts of eastern UP.
