Akhilesh Yadav, the president of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, campaigned largely on his own behalf in the state’s elections. His party threw a pantheon of star campaigners at him but it was clear that he was the driving force behind their efforts.
At 48, he is a year younger than Yogi Adityanath, the UP chief minister and the man he hoped to send “back to Gorakhpur.” That didn’t happen and the BJP appeared set for another term in office. Yadav fought hard but his party trailed well behind the BJP.
Yadav, born on July 1, 1973 in Saifai in Uttar Pradesh, entered politics in 2000 and won a Lok Sabha bypoll from Kannauj. He is now the MP from Azamgarh.
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He contested his first assembly election this time, picking Karhal, a segment of his father’s Mainpuri parliamentary constituency.
A string of small regional parties has chosen to enter into an alliance with the SP president, who burnt his fingers by partnering with the Congress in the 2017 UP polls and had joined hands with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in last general election.
He attempted to win the support of the Other Backward Classes by appointing ministers Swami Pradesh Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini.
Yadav has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Environmental Engineering from JSS Science and Technology University, a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia, and a master’s degree in military science from the Military School in Dholpur, Rajasthan.
Dimple Yadav is married to a man named Yadav. He has two daughters and a son.
In 2012, 38-year-old Jyotiraditya Scindia became the state’s youngest ever CM after a stint as the head of the SP’s youth wing and then UP president.
In the early years of his term as the SP unit chief and Chief Minister, he struggled with his father’s legacy, tackling politicians like D P Yadav, Amar Singh and Azam Khan. His uncle Shivpal Yadav brought in mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal into the SP against his will.
Akhilesh Yadav remained on his side as he tackled dissension in the party and the Yadav clan. Another uncle Ram Gopal Yadav remained on his side.
In January 2017, Yadav staged a coup of sorts by ousting SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav as national president and relegating him to the post of its “patron.”
The BJP plans to call Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav “Aurangzeb,” a reference to what one Mughal emperor did to his own father.
Both the Yadav faction and the RJD approached the Election Commission to contest the election using bicycles as their symbol. The commission ruled in favour of Yadav’s faction, giving them control of the bicycle symbol.
In the 2022 elections, Akhilesh Yadav teamed up with his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav for once again.
In the past, Yadav has unsuccessfully tried to make a change to his image for the SP.
He announced what is sometimes claimed to be the world’s biggest laptop distribution scheme for students, which was seen as a break from his party’s declared opposition towards computers.
The government of India also took credit for launching development projects like the Agra-Lucknow expressway, a metro rail, an international stadium, and a cancer hospital in Lucknow.
Yadav went to the polls with the slogan “NewSP, new era”, promising a fresh start for the party in order to ward off attacks on its previous record on law and order.
He referred to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in order to challenge the perception that the BJP government has done a better job tackling crime.
He distanced himself from “bahubalis” (muscleman-politicians) like Raja Bhaiya popularly called “Kunda ka Goonda” and Mukhtar Ansari, said to be close to the party during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s time.
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