Lucknow: Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav has been busy in taking his father's legacy forward after winning the Saifai Lok Sabha elections.
In a first, he has been completely focusing on Etawah, Mainpuri, Etah, Firozabad, Auraiya, Farrukhabad and Kannauj to strengthen 'Yadavland', which is seen as a strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
SP strategists believe that Shivpal Shivpal Singh Yadav has held a good hold in these areas after Mulayam Singh, which is why Akhilesh is strengthening his strategy by connecting to the youth in the villages, after taking Shivpal in his fold.
If political experts are to be believed, Shivpal, who has accepted Akhilesh as his leader, has a ground connection in this area. The new generation of the family has also entered politics.
In such a situation, Akhilesh does not want to leave any vacancy in his 'Yadavland' and has been trying to leave his impression on the new generation. At present, there is no such leader in his family who can move ahead without him.
According to a party leader, Akhilesh has been more active in his constituency after winning the Mainpuri elections as he is being seen in every programme, small or big.
Mainpuri has been a major bastion of the SP, the party has won eight times from here and Mulayam Singh had won five times. In the recent by-elections, sympathy for Mulayam was seen such that all previous records were broken, giving the party a major win.
According to recent media reports, Akhilesh addressed party workers in Mainpuri in December and stayed with the party workers in Kishni.
He visited his constituency Karhal on December 14 and addressed the workers in Jaswantnagar on December 23. He then attended programmes in Mainpuri around Christmas.
According to political experts, SP's founder Mulayam Singh had worked hard to strengthen his constituency and had a great personal connect with the people, which is why the party was strong in Etawah, Kannauj, Firozabad and Yadav dominated areas.
Party National Spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said that the party's President had been campaigning in these areas to make up for the loss that the party suffered in 2014 and 2019.
Akhilesh has also been visiting Jhansi and Jalaun to campaign.
Verma added that the party was prepared to fight the BJP in the polls.
Senior political analyst P.N. Dwivedi said that the saffron party has been constantly working to woo the people in the 'Yadavland' since 2014, which is why it gained a stronghold in areas like Firozabad along with Yadav-dominated Kannauj.
The BJP also won in Etawah, a stronghold district of the SP.
The BJP collaborated with other leaders who had been opposing the SP after the last elections and has benefitted from the same.
After the death of Mulayam Singh, the BJP fielded his disciple Raghuraj Singh Shakya in Mainpuri.
At the same time, the SP changed its strategy with this by-election.
Letting go of the controversies, Akhilesh not only roped in his uncle Shivpal, but ended the tradition of staying away from the by-elections and did door-to-door campaigning and succeeded.
Akhilesh has been working to maintain his party's dominance, to win in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. —IANS