Mulayam Singh's mega rallies to begin later this month

LUCKNOW: With other parties like BSP and Congress already in the campaign mode, the Samajwadi Party is also finalising a big rally to be addressed by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in mid-September.

Yadav would hold a rally each divisional headquarters in UP. Party sources said that the date and location is being finalised but they will definetly begin the Mulayam rallies in September and that too from eastern UP.

The SP had kickstarted its 2014 Lok Sabha campaign from Azamgarh and Mulayam had for the first time stepped out from his family bastion of Etawah-Mainpuri and contested from there.

The SP had in 2012 also started its campaign from Azamgarh, though Akhilesh Yadav had stared his Samajwadi Rath Yatra (roadshow) a little earlier. The SP went on to win the 2012 polls with a full majority and also swept 9 of the 10 assembly segments in Azamgarh. A section in the party has, however, proposed Varanasi, which is represented by PM Narendra Modi, for the first Mulayam rally.



They believe that blowing the poll trumpet from Varanasi would send message far and wide and pit the SP in direct contest with BJP. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has already held a road show in Varanasi and BSP chief Mayawati held the second of her four-rally series in Azamgarh on August 28.

SP strategists feel that while Azamgarh has been lucky for them, holding teh first rally in Varanasi would create a huge buzz around their campaign.