Akhilesh gives return gift to Mayawati

LUCKNOW: Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has decided not to get himself re-elected to the UP Legislative Council but allow a BSP candidate to win on his seat later this month in the MLC polls in Uttar Pradesh, in what is being seen as a big move to cement ties with the BSP after the loss on a Rajya Sabha seat last month.

Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary confirmed to ET that Akhilesh Yadav will not be the nominee of the SP on the two seats that the party can contest and win. “One of these seats will be offered to the BSP on which we will transfer our balance votes to allow them to win,” Chaudhary said. BSP may nominate Bhim Rao Ambedkar, its candidate who fell short of votes in the Rajya Sabha election, as an MLC. SP’s state president, Naresh Uttam, could be the SP’s nominee on the other seat as he is already an MLC. Akhilesh Yadav, who was an MLC so far, will contest the Lok Sabha polls from Kannauj next year, from where his wife Dimple Yadav is the sitting MP. Akhilesh Yadav in the past said Dimple will not contest an election to lay rest to allegations that Yadav family was promoting dynasty politics.

Relations between SP and BSP had suffered a bump after the RS poll loss for the BSP candidate even as SP’s nominee Jaya Bachchan won. Mayawati then remarked that Akhilesh should have let the BSP candidate win rather than Bachchan as BSP had earlier helped SP win both the Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. “Mayawati Ji then termed Akhilesh Yadav as less experienced but he has now shown his magnanimity by not re-electing himself as MLC for BSP,” a SP leader said.