SP’s Akshay Yadav frontrunner in Firozabad, sitting Congress MP Raj Babbar keen on moving to another seat

Samajwadi Party may be facing the heat in large swathes of Uttar Pradesh, but in the bangle district of Firozabad it does not seem unduly perturbed by the rising crescendo of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi across much of the state or the newest challenger in Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who recently passed through this region.

The party declared its candidate as early as mid-2012, after CM Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav lost the 2009 by-election, which was necessitated by his resignation from the constituency, to Congress’ Raj Babbar. The party has fielded Akshay Yadav, son of SP chief Mulayam Singh’s brother and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav, in what ranks among the prestige battles of the upcoming LS polls.

Although Dimple Yadav later won unopposed from Kannauj, the SP chief has vowed to wrest Firozabad back for the family. Akshay was announced the party’s candidate just weeks after he turned 25, the minimum age to enter LS, and has been garnering support ever since.

Babbar, the sitting MP, is said to have asked his party to field him from somewhere else in the state, preferably Ghaziabad. He did not respond to ET’s call or reply to repeated text messages.

With rival parties yet to announce their candidates, Akshay Yadav is seen as the front-runner in the constituency which has 25% Yadavs and 12% Muslims among its 16 lakh voters.

Last Saturday, BSP’s national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member SP Singh joined the BJP. Baghel, who stood second in the 2009 elections against SP’s Akhilesh, has a strong support base among the SC in the region.

If he gets the BJP ticket, he could put up a strong fight, with a formidable upper caste-Dalit combination.