UP bypolls: Keshav Maurya mocks Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan as BJP inches closer to breaching SP bastions
BJP candidates are leading their respective counterparts from the SP on both Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats that were vacated by Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, respectively.
Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister and leader of the state’s ruling BJP, Keshav Prasad Maurya, on Sunday took a dig at Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, as his party edged closer to winning both the Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats for which byelections were held on Thursday.
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“Voters of Rampur and Azamgarh are responding to arrogance and hooliganism, as can be seen in the trends from the counting of votes. You don’t win elections by appeasement, hooliganism and casteism. Not just the backward class, but people from all classes are giving answer to Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan for insulting me,” Maurya said in a tweet, writing in Hindi.
The BJP leader was referring to a war of words that erupted between him and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on May 25. Meanwhile, Azam Khan, on June 20, remarked that Maurya was given deputy chief ministership ‘in alms’ as the latter was defeated as a candidate in the state assembly elections held earlier in the year.
Also Read | Uproar in Uttar Pradesh assembly as Akhilesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya lock horns
Maurya, who stood from the Sirathu seat, was defeated by Pallavi Patel of the Akhilesh-led alliance.
Bypolls to the Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats were necessitated as their respective MPs, Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, were elected to the UP assembly, and both chose to step down as parliamentarians. While Yadav won from Karhal, Khan was victorious from Rampur.
Click here for live updates on counting of votes for 3 Lok Sabha, 7 assembly constituencies
From Azamgarh, the BJP, which has government at the Centre too, fielded Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ against Akhilesh Yadav's cousin, Dharmendra Yadav. In Rampur, the ruling party went with Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi against the SP's Asim Raja.
According to the Election Commission's (EC) latest trends, Lodhi is leading Raja by a massive 42,192 votes. On the other hand, there is a see-saw contest in Azamgarh, where Dinesh Lal Yadav was, as of 2:55pm, ahead of Dharmendra Yadav by 10,559 votes.
