Sons turn backroom boys for contesting parents

They are children of political leaders and have now taken over the responsibility of serving as quintessential backroom boys while their fathers contest the elections.

Neeraj Singh, the younger son of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, is managing the campaign of his father along with a dedicated team of workers.

"I am interacting with booth level workers and the people at the grassroots levels to apprise them of the development work done by my father in his constituency. It is my duty to carry his work to every household," says Neeraj.

Since Rajnath Singh will be campaigning in several other constituencies as well, his elder son Pankaj Singh, an MLA from Noida, will also campaign in his father's constituency.

Both the sons are confident of their father's victory in Lucknow. "We only want him to better his margin this time," says Neeraj Singh.

Mayank Joshi is the son of Uttar Pradesh Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the BJP candidate from Allahabad. He gave up his job in the UK to help his mother in her political career.

After helping her win the Lucknow Cantonment seat in the 2017 Assembly elections, Mayank Joshi is now camping in Allahabad.

"Allahabad is my home city and I have grown up here. I know the city and its people and I am responsible for planning my mother's schedule so that she gets to cover every part of the constituency," he says.

Abdullah Azam is a first time legislator and is presently working overtime for his father Mohd Azam Khan, the SP-BSP candidate from Rampur. Mohd Azam Khan is pitted against actor-turned -politician Jaya Prada of the BJP.

"These are tough times for us. The BJP government is victimizing us with a vengeance and we are being targeted with FIRs almost every other day. However the people are with us and party workers are working with me to ensure the victory of my father<" he says.

Aditya Yadav is the eldest son of Shivpal Singh Yadav and, apart from campaigning for his father who is contesting the Ferozabad Lok Sabha Sabha, he also faces an unpleasant situation.

In Ferozabad, Shivpal Yadav is contesting against his own nephew Akshay Yadav and Aditya Yadav has been assigned the task of campaigning against his cousin.

"It is an unpleasant situation but we are not responsible for it. My father tried to broker peace in the family but finally things did not work out. This is politics and there are no relations in politics. It is a battle that has to be won and we are working for it," he says.

The normally reticent Aditya Yadav is finally taking the centre stage in his party's politics. Apart from managing his father's campaign, he is also meeting party workers from all over the state and addressing issues related to the party.

The youngest is Samrat, son of Jaya Prada who is campaigning for his mother in Rampur. He terms his first election experience as "interesting" and says he has already made friends with many in the constituency.

--IANS

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