Yogendra Yadav: Poll guru who answered the call of politics

NEW DELHI: Years before he became one of India's most widely-known psephologists for his perceptive analysis of elections on national TV, Yogendra Yadav had known that moving to the other side was inevitable.

Having eventually made that walk from the serenity of the desk to the heat and dust of the real battleground, Yadav is contesting next month's Lok Sabha election from Gurgaon as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate.

The first time he thought of entering politics, Yadav says, was as a student. It was way back in 1981 while studying political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University that he met Kishan Patnaik, founder of Samajwadi Jan Parishad Party, who he refers to with veneration as "Kishan ji". Such was Patnaik's impression on him that Yadav named his son, who is now nine years old, Sahaj Kishan.

"I was inspired by him. He became an MP at 27 in 1962; in fact, he contested the election from jail and won. I've known him for three decades and never once has he lied. This gave me the courage, strength and desire to take up active politics. I have realized that if you want to do something for the country, you cannot escape politics," Yadav says.

He has been associated with several movements ever since, including "some failed movements". However, the Jan Lokpal movement led by Anna Hazare in Delhi proved to be the turning point. "I am not here in Gurgaon to fi ght the Lok Sabha election because I appear on television and am a psephologist. I am here because the logical culmination is politics."

Driven as he is by his convictions, Yadav's task is anything but easy. The momentum generated by AAP's spectacular performance in the Delhi assembly election has steadily lost steam since Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the chief minister's post after 49 days in power. The party's Gurgaon unit has also been crippled by infighting and desertions. Opposition parties have already written him off. But he is the only one talking about corruption and price rise in campaigns while rival candidates are busy playing their caste cards. "I know it's a tough fi ght but I don't want to fight this election on caste because I don't believe in it," Yadav says.

The political plunge has also drastically cut his family time. Daughter Sufi missed her father's guidance during her recent Class 9 fi - nal exams. Yadav's wife Madhulika Banerjee says he's an involved father. "He helps the kids with subjects like maths and Hindi. But this time, since he was busy with his campaign, he couldn't devote much time," she says. Yadav and his family recently shifted base to Sushant Lok in Gurgaon from Delhi. He has promised to live in the Millennium City permanently if he wins the election.

YY (as he is known among his team) loves to travel, preferably by train. Madhulika says he gets down at every stop to taste local food. "He loves to travel and knows what each station has to offer in terms of food," she says.

In politics, too, it's the same hunger to explore that drives him.