UP Election Result: Akhilesh Yadav entered politics in 2000. (file)
Lucknow:
White BJP threw an influx of star campaignersAkhilesh Yadav was virtually the lone face of his Samajwadi Party Uttar Pradesh Election, From ticket distribution to selection of allies, it was a one-man show by the SP president.
At 48, he is a year younger than UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the man he had hoped to send “back to Gorakhpur”. This did not happen and the BJP appeared ready for another term. Yadav fought hard, but his party was trailing behind the BJP.
Born on July 1, 1973 in Saifai, Mr. Yadav entered politics in 2000, winning the Lok Sabha by-election from Kannauj and is now an MP from Azamgarh.
He contested his first assembly election this time by electing Karhal from his father’s Mainpuri parliamentary constituency.
The SP president, who burnt his fingers by partnering with the Congress in the 2017 UP elections and joined hands with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in the last general election, decided to forge an alliance with smaller regional parties this time.
In short, he trounced the BJP by involving ministers Swami Pradesh Maurya, Dara Singh Chouhan and Dharam Singh Saini in an effort to woo the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in his favor.
Mr. Yadav attended Military School in Dholpur, Rajasthan and then obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil environmental engineering from JSS Science and Technology University. He also holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia.
Married to Dimple Yadav, Mr. Yadav has two daughters and a son.
In 2012, after a stint as the head of the SP’s youth wing and then the party’s UP president, he became the youngest CM of the state at 38 years old with the blessings of his father.
In the early years of his tenure as SP unit chief and chief minister, he struggled with his father’s legacy to deal with politicians such as DP Yadav, Amar Singh and Azam Khan. His uncle Shivpal Yadav brought Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Dal to the SP against his will.
Another uncle Ram Gopal Yadav remained by his side as Akhilesh Yadav faced discontent in the party and the Yadav clan.
And just before the 2017 assembly elections, Mr. Yadav staged a coup of sorts. At an emergency convention of the party in January 2017, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was removed from the post of national president and re-elected to the post of its “patron”.
Remembering what a Mughal emperor had done to his father, the BJP had to call Akhilesh Yadav Aurangzeb.
Both the parties approached the Election Commission, which ruled in favor of Yuva Yadav and gave his faction the symbol of cycle.
Akhilesh Yadav again joined hands with uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav in the 2022 elections.
In the past, Mr. Yadav has tried to build an image for the SP.
As chief minister, he rejected his party’s declared opposition to computers, declaring what is sometimes claimed to be the world’s largest laptop distribution scheme for students.
His government also took credit for starting development projects in Lucknow such as the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, metro rail, an international stadium and a cancer hospital.
Mr. Yadav went to the 2022 elections with the slogan “Nai Hawa Hai, Nai Sapna Hai”, which called for a “new SP” (in the fresh air it is a different SP) to deter attacks on the party’s past record. I promised. on law and order. He cited the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to challenge the notion that the BJP government has dealt with crime better.
He distanced himself from “kunda ka goons” like Raja Bhaiya and “bahubalis” (Muslim-politicians) like Mukhtar Ansari, who were said to be close to the party during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s time.