Akhilesh Yadav’s big dilemma post UP results: What to quit – MP or MLA?

New Delhi: A day after the UP election results, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is in a catch-22 situation. The SP chief is caught up between two options and the circumstances are such that he has to do a tightrope walk.

Akhilesh Yadav is an elected Member of Parliament (MP) from Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency and in the recently concluded Assembly polls, he won the Karhal Assembly seat with a decisive lead of over 67,000 votes.

Now, the dilemma before Akhilesh Yadav is whether to continue as Parliamentarian or adorn a new role of legislator. He can’t hold both public offices at the same time.

In the 2022 elections, the SP got a much bigger mandate than the 2017 Assembly elections and it shows up in poll numbers. It registered the biggest jump in vote share compared to other parties & its seats tripled from 47 to 111. Still, the party is far from corridors of power.

An insult for Karhal voters?

Akhilesh served as UP Chief Minister for a full 5-year term from 2012-2017. But, he never got elected from any Assembly constituency. Even when he was CM, he became a member of the Legislative Assembly and then took charge of the state. When SP marched to power in 2012, he was a Lok Sabha MP from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat.

Even when the SP chief sat in Opposition, he never contested Assembly elections. His political career started in 2000 but in 2 decades of his career, his politics centered around national politics. It’s only when Yogi’s challenge looked formidable and chances of SP revival looked bleak that he chose to fight polls from the Karhal Assembly seat.

Now, that he has defeated Karhal’s rival by a big margin, the question before is to quit what – Assembly or LS seat. Leaving any of them would send a message that Akhilesh chose to desert the people of that constituency for his own political ambition.

The SP cadre is in a huddle over making the difficult choice. Assembly elections are over and Parliamentary polls are due in the next 2 years. In such a scenario, quitting the national space could also backfire given the fact that Gandhi’s siblings have thrown their weight in the poll arena and AAP is also gaining strength. However, the party also leave its Opposition space in the state, in jeopardy.

Political watchers are however of the view that the SP chief will leave Karhal for Azamgarh LS seat.