In Mainpuri, Akhilesh Yadav denies ticket to cousin

AGRA: Apparently giving in to pressure from SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, chief minister and Samajwadi President national president Akhilesh Yadav has denied ticket to his cousin, Anshul Yadav, whom he had earlier declared as a candidate from Karhal constituency in Mainpuri. Anshul is also the Zila panchayat president of Etawah.

Earlier when the feud between the father and son broke out, Akhilesh, who had issued a parallel list after Shivpal Yadav had declared his list of candidates, had retained all sitting MLAs, except Sobaran Singh, sitting MLA from Karhal, in Mainpuri. In place of Sobaran, Akhilesh had declared his cousin, Anshul, as his candidate.

However, after MSY gave him a list of 38 candidates earlier this week, Anshul’s name was dropped.

Anshul Yadav refused to comment on the party’s decision to drop him from the list of 191 candidates declared on Friday, but he left the

public meeting organised in Ghiror

in a huff. He was busy campaigning in the constituency when he received the news of his name being dropped.

However, sources close to him claimed that he had been denied the ticket as MSY wanted Sobaram to be fielded again.

Other Shivpal loyalists, however, have been denied tickets in other districts. These include sitting MLA Ashish Yadav from Etah Sadar and Nashi Khan, daughter of sitting MLA Zeenat Khan, from Patiyali constituency (Kasganj) getting dropped. In Firozabad, three of Shivpal Yadav loyalists, Ramveer Yadav (sitting MLA from Jasrana), Maharaj Singh Dhangar (Tundla) and Om Prakash Verma (sitting MLA of Shikohabad) have been denied tickets.

Kundanika Sharma, daughter of noted Hindi poet Gopal Das Neeraj -- who joined SP last year, was also denied ticket. She claimed that she has been told by the party to contest under the symbol of Congress, once the alliance is announced.