Assembly elections: Will it be Adityanath vs Akhilesh Yadav in Eastern UP?

Clash of titans may spice up Purvanchal poll theatre

Arch rivals Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister, and Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party (SP) president and Adityanath’s predecessor, share many similarities: Both started their political careers by becoming the Members of Parliament (MPs), they also became members of the UP legislature only after taking over as chief minister in 2017 and 2012, respectively.

With the polls for the 403 seats in UP set to begin less than a month away on February 10, speculation is rife that Yadav is contemplating contesting the Assembly elections, something that he has not done so far, and that it could be from the state’s eastern region.

Adityanath has already been named by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its candidate for the Gorakhpur City constituency. Although, neither Yadav nor the SP has officially announced his candidature for the coming polls, he has not refuted it either.

Talking to the media in Lucknow on Wednesday, Yadav, currently MP from Azamgarh, said he would consider the suggestions of his electorate and decide whether to fight and from which seat.

Yadav was first elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kannauj constituency in a byelection in 2000. Adityanath made his parliamentary debut in 1998 from Gorakhpur, and went on to represent the Eastern UP constituency for five consecutive terms — 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.

There is, hence, a strong likelihood that the arch-rivals could contest from Eastern UP or the Purvanchal region, which accounts for the maximum number of seats.

First since Mulayam

Adityanath will become the first UP CM in 15 years to contest the state polls while still in office. Then UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh’s father, had last contested direct polls in 2007.