Samajwadi party president Akhilesh yadav and MP Dimple yadav joint press conference at party office on Wednesday
Interestingly, Akhilesh had declared Pawan Pandey as the party candidate from Ayodhya for the 2027 polls during his last visit to the temple town. During his visit to Ayodhya recently, Akhilesh had announced that he would visit Ayodhya the day his party leader in Ayodhya Pawan Pandey will ask him to. Not surprisingly, the announcement of Akhilesh’s visit to Ram Temple was made by Pawan Pandey in Ayodhya and not through the routine party sources. The announcement made Pawan Pandey as first official candidate of SP for the assembly polls with the declaration coming from none other than the party chief himself.
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chose the occasion of Hanuman Janmaotsava, which was celebrated on Saturday, to announce that party president Akhilesh Yadav along with his wife and Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav will visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to seek blessings of Ram Lalla on Dec 12. “In 2027 UP polls, SP’s political adversaries will not be able to question why he was not visiting the temple. In the political circles the development is being seen as a part of SP’s well-crafted move to target the BJP on the issue of donation theft at the Ram Temple in the 2027 polls.
Though SP neither denied nor formally endorsed Pandey’s confirmation, senior functionaries said such statements are made before the media only after due clearance and nod from all ‘required quarters’. On the contrary, the SP may showcase Akhilesh’s visit to strike a chord with the Hindu majority at large,” said a political observer. “In Hindu mythology we strongly believe that one cannot ‘reach’ Lord Ram unless one seeks blessings of Lord Hanuman. If sources are to be believed that SP expects a strong reaction from the BJP on Akhilesh’s proposed visit to Ram temple and the party strategists have prepared themselves to counter BJP’s salvos on the issue, one at a time.
The proposed visit before the UP polls is sure to blunt the BJP ’s repeated pointed attacks on SP questioning why the party leadership was reluctant to visit the Ram Temple. So, we decided to make the announcement of our party president’s visit to the Ram Temple on Hanuman Janmaotsav held on Saturday,” Pawan, who has been a minister in the Akhilesh govt, said.