New Delhi: After wresting Azamgarh and Rampur parliamentary seats from the Samajwadi Party, the BJP leadership is busy strategising for the bypolls in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and Rampur Assembly seat on December 5.
Speculation is rife that the BJP could field Aparna Yadav, SP's late patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law, who joined the BJP ahead of the recent Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
While Mainpuri, a bastion of the SP, was represented in Parliament by the late Mulayam Sing until his demise last month, SP strongman Azam Khan represented Rampur in the Assembly until his conviction in a hate speech case. Pressure has been mounting on the SP since it again lost the Assembly polls and then lost two key parliamentary seats — Rampur and Azamgarh, which were considered SP strongholds where the core vote bank consisted of Yadav and Muslim community voters.
Not to antagonise the Yadavs of Mainpuri, among whom Mulayam Singh was very popular, the BJP, it is learnt, is considering giving a ticket to the family member. Names of former MP Raghuraj Singh and MLA Mamtesh Shakta were also doing the round for Mainpuri seat.
Keeping in mind the sympathy votes and also to give a message to its cadre that the party was taking the bypolls seriously, the ruling party could field the wife of late leader's younger son, Aparna Yadav. A member of the Yadav family contesting from Mainpuri will also mean the Yadav vote bank will not get divided if the SP chooses not to field anyone from the family.
Mulayam Singh had represented the seat five times. His nephew Dharmendra Yadav and grand nephew Tej Pratap had been elected from the seat. Polling for both the seats will take place on December 5 and results will be declared on December 8.
