Jaya Bachchan to campaign against Amar Singh for April 24 polls

All major political parties are now focusing on the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections April 24 for 117 constituencies in 12 states, with a dozen seats in Uttar Pradesh.

According to a revised poll campaigning schedule of the Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will Sunday address two rallies in Fatehabad and Etmadpur, along with film actress Jaya Bachchan.

Jaya, who is a Rajya Sabha member of the SP, has been invited by the Samajwadi Party to address a meeting from the Fatehpur Sikri rural seat from which RLD candidate Amar Singh is contesting.

It was Amar Singh, who as the then high-profile party general secretary inducted Jaya Bachchan into the Samajwadi Party and made her a Rajya Sabha member. While he left the party later following differences with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Jaya refused to part company with it.

Saturday, bad weather forced cancellation of Akhilesh's two rallies in Jalesar and Etmadpur of the Agra region.

After waiting at the Lucknow airport for more than four hours, he decided to postpone the rallies to Sunday.

Amar Singh, in the past few days, has been holding road shows with film stars like Jaya Prada, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, Raza Murad and Asrani. He has a few more movie actors lined up in the run-up to the April 24 polls.

"After (BSP supremo) Mayawati's huge public rally in Agra where she appealed to Dalits and Muslims to close ranks and ensure victory of party candidate Seema Upadhyaya, who trounced Raj Babbar (of the Congress) last time, the support for the BSP appears to have consolidated," said Ved Gautam, a tourist guide. Her emotional "Dalit ke beti for PM" appeal has touched many voters, he adds.

The BJP's Choudhary Babu Lal, Samajwadi Party's Pakshalika Singh and Laxmi Choudhary of the Aam Aadmi Party are also in the fray from Fatehpur Sikri.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party has announced party president Rajnath Singh will address rallies in Anwal Kheda and Kheragarh, before he moves on to Firozabad for campaigning.