Akhilesh Yadav's returns to Kannauj to reclaim family legacy during tense electoral battle
Hindustan TimesThe Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has thrown his hat in the electoral ring from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat – his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had carefully nurtured it as a family seat and passed it on to him 24 years ago. And, second, it’s part of the Yadav family’s efforts to defend its traditional strongholds in the so-called "Yadavland": His wife, Dimple Yadav, contested from Mainpuri, party leader Ram Gopal Yadav’s son Akshay Yadav from Firozabad and Shivpal Yadav's son Aditya Yadav from Badaun. The loss of Kannauj in particular hurt the SP and Akhilesh Yadav the most; never before had the SP lost the seat since it contested in the constituency for the first time, with the Yadav-Muslim alliance dominating it since 1998. "Main ladka dekar jaa raha hoon, isko sansad sadasya bana dena," Mulayam famously said to the audience as party leader Azam Khan almost dragged Akhilesh to the masses in 2000, Tripathi recalled.