Lucknow: On Sunday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the upcoming elections from Azamgarh constituency, which is at present held by his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SP announced while releasing the list of candidates for 40 Lok Sabha seats. Senior SP leader and former state minister Mohammad Azam Khan will contest from his home turf Rampur in what is being seen as an attempt to mobilise minorities in the face of Congress fielding Muslim faces in western UP.

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 Here it is to be noted that Mulayam, meanwhile, will contesting from the Yadav bastion of Mainpuri, where a joint rally of Akhilesh, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and RLD chief Ajit Singh is expected on April 19. By contesting from his father’s seat, Akhilesh has not only given a clear message that he is the real inheritor of his father’s legacy but also made an attempt to mobilise the Samajwadi Party cadre in Poorvanchal. Meanwhile, the party also issued a list of 40 star campaigners for the upcoming polls. These include Akhilesh, Azam Khan, Ramgopal Yadav, Jaya Bachchan and Dimple Yadav but interestingly, Mulayam’s name is missing.

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To be noted that the move comes in the backdrop of the SP patriarch appearing off-guard from the party line on several occasions, which has caused embarrassment for the party. Mulayam had also stirred up a controversy by wishing PM Narendra Modi a second term while addressing Parliament on its last day.The SP-BSP along with RLD are contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls in an alliance. The SP will contest on 37 seats, BSP on 38 seats while three seats have been given to RLD. Two seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli were left for Congress.