JOIN USAkhilesh may field a Brahmin candidate from Gorakhpur to take on Yogi Adityanath
In a move aimed at cornering Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his home turf, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is planning to field a 'Brahmin' candidate from Gorakhpur City assembly seat.
According to the sources in the SP, the party was considering to field the wife of a prominent local Brahmin leader from the BJP, who had been at loggerheads with Adityanath.
Although the SP leaders did not reveal the name of the candidate, sources said that BJP leader late Upendra Dutt Shukla's wife might be fielded against Adityanath.
Sources said that Shukla's wife had met senior SP leaders in the state capital a few days ago.
Upendra Shukla had contested the Lok Sabha bypoll from Gorakhpur seat in 2018 after Adityanath became UP CM and vacated the seat but had lost to the SP nominee. Shukla and Adityanath, though belonging to the same party, were opponents within the party politics and Adityanath had also opposed his nomination from Gorakhpur in the LS bypoll.
SP president Akhilesh apparently would be hoping to bag the votes of Brahmins and Yadavs who were in good numbers in the Gorakhpur City assembly constituency. "Adityanath may find the going tough if the Brahmins support our nominee," said a senior SP leader while speaking to DH on Thursday.
What may further queer the pitch for Adityanath was the shift of prominent Brahmin leader Hari Shankar Tewari to the SP a few days ago. Tewari is considered to be an influential Brahmin leader from Gorakhpur.
Gorakhpur City assembly constituency had been a bastion of the BJP and the saffron party has not lost there since 1967, the days of Jansangh. The incumbent MLA from the seat Radhamohan Das Aagarwal, an Adityanath confidante, has been winning from there since 2002.
Adityanath was tipped to contest from either Ayodhya or Mathura but was declared a nominee from Gorakhpur surprising many even within the BJP.
Adityanath's decision to shift to Gorakhpur had invited sarcastic remarks from the opposition. ''It is good that he has decided to contest from Gorakhpur, his home town....he would not now have to leave the town...he will remain there as his party is going to lose the polls,'' Akhilesh had said.