Up Lok Sabha Elections: Fight Between Yogi and Akhilesh

With chief minister, Yogi Adityanath set to kick start his campaign for the prestigious parliamentary elections from Shakumbhari Devi Mandir in Saharanpur and the alliance troika of Mayawati, Akhilesh, and Ajit Singh to hold a joint rally from Muslim-dominated Deoband in the same district.

Before he begins his campaign, yogi stirred controversy over alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana after communal backlash, despite a home ministry denial of an exodus.

In the assembly elections in the three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, Yogi had given a communal tone to campaign speeches by saying, "Ali tum rakheRaho, humarepaas Bajrang BaliHai.”

The SP-BSP-RLD alliance will launch its campaign on April 7 from Deoband, which houses one of Asia's largest Islamic seminary, while Yogi closes the famous Hindu shrine in the same district from March 24. Unlike last elections, when he largely spoke about expressways, metros and medical colleges, this time SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has countered BJP by saying he found the glue to unite people-caste. “BJP has compelled me to display my OBC credentials on my badge,” he said. Akhilesh went further by saying “if Modi is chaiwala, I am a doodhwala (Yadav by caste) to sharpen his OBC consolidation. To turn the contest into Pachchasi( 85% population comprising OBC’s Dalits and Muslims) versus “pandrah (15% upper castes comprising Brahmins, Rajputs, and others ), Akhilesh cleverly tied up with BSP to expand the social base further conceded seats for the Rashtriya Lok Dal.