Continuing to fan speculation on whether he will contest in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, in a press conference on Tuesday, refused to confirm or deny whether he will throw his hat into the proverbial ring. "I will seek the permission of the people of Azamgarh before I decide to contest any polls. They elected me," he said.
Yadav had U-turned on the topic more than once. The SP MP from Azamgarh, regarded as the chief ministerial face of his party, had said in November 2021: “I will not be contesting the assembly election myself”. Yadav, who was a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) when he served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012-2017, did not give any reason for the decision. However, later, Yadav said a final decision on his contesting the polls will be taken by the party.
Yadav promised caste census within three months if his Samajwadi Party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, giving people their rights according to their share in the population. Addressing a rally during the 'Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra' in Mainpuri, the SP leader again slammed the ruling party of “misusing” the enforcement agencies, calling them “BJP cells”. He attacked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for being good only for changing names of cities and inaugurating the “already inaugurated” projects.
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“We and you are accused of snatching someone's rights but everything will be clear from the caste census,” he said at the rally in the SP stronghold. “After the formation of the SP government, caste census will be conducted within three months and everyone will be given rights and respect according to their population,” he said. “People know that we have fulfilled all promises we made," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav also alluded to the recent Income Tax searches at the premises of some SP leaders, and predicted increased activity by agencies such as IT and the Enforcement Directorate as the assembly elections due early next year approach.
