Lucknow: The strife within the Samajwadi Party took a new turn on Monday when state president Shivpal Yadav announced a list of seven new candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections and replaced 14 candidates announced earlier.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav told reporters that he had no information of the announcement of the new candidates or the changes made in the list. It is noteworthy that Mr Akhilesh Yadav is the chairman of the state parliamentary board that finalises the tickets for the election.
“I have done my work and given up all my rights. It is now left to the people to decide. The one who has the trump card is the one who wins and you will have to wait for it. I cannot change certain habits of mine and will never stop speaking the truth”, the CM said with a smile. However, he denied any differences with his uncle Shivpal Yadav or other family members.
Interestingly, senior SP leader Prof. Ramgopal Yadav was present in Lucknow on Monday but did not attend the inauguration of the chief minister’s new office. The new list of seven candidates announced by the party includes two tainted candidates Mukesh Srivastava, a Congress MLA who recently joined the Samajwadi Party, and Aman Mani Tripathi.
Mukesh Srivastava is an accused in the NRHM scam and has been named as the party candidate from Prayagpur in Bahraich district. The other tainted candidate is Aman Mani Tripathi, son of jailed politician Amar Mani Tripathi.
Aman Mani, himself, is an accused in a kidnapping and extortion case and is facing a CBI inquiry for the murder of his wife Sara. He will be the SP candidate from Nautanwa in Maharajganj.
Seema Singh, mother of the deceased Sara, issued a statement to the media questioning the party ticket given to Aman Mani. “I want to ask chief minister Akhilesh Singh and SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav to explain why th ticket has been given to a person who killed my daughter and is facing a CBI inquiry”, she said in the statement.
