Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he will not be contesting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls early next year.
He also said that an alliance between his party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the polls has been finalised. "Our alliance with RLD is final. Seat sharing is to be finalised," he told PTI in an interview.
Akhilesh, currently the MP for Azamgarh, has never contested Assembly polls.
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Akhilesh has been preparing for the upcoming Assembly polls for months. He has already forged a tie-up with the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an erstwhile ally of the BJP.
At a rally in Hardoi on Sunday, Akhilesh said the ruling BJP was unlikely to find candidates eager for tickets given widespread public anger. "All sections of people have made up their minds to elect an SP government in the assembly elections, following which Uttar Pradesh will get back on the path to growth and prosperity," Akhilesh was quoted as saying on Sunday by Hindustan Times.
On chances of taking uncle Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) along in the polls, Akhilesh told PTI, "I don’t have any problem in this. He and his men will be given due honour".
