UP Election 2027: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has accepted Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav’s dare to contest the upcoming assembly elections from Ayodhya, inviting the opposition leader to enter the electoral fray from the temple town against him.
Addressing a public meeting in Balrampur on 11 October, Adityanath said both leaders should contest from Ayodhya, two days after Yadav dared him to fight the assembly elections from the constituency.
“Akhilesh ji, Ayodhya is our sacred abode. I visit Ayodhya repeatedly to ensure that there is no lapse in its development, and the identity of Uttar Pradesh is not tarnished in any way. It is a centre of our faith and devotion. We go there not to contest elections, but for its development,” Adityanath said.
Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are scheduled next year.
Tej Narayan Pandey is SP candidate
“I invite you to file your nomination from Ayodhya, and I will too, and try my luck there once.The fight should be face-to-face,” he said.
Responding to the CM, Akhilesh Yadav said a young candidate is enough to take on the BJP in Ayodhya, pointing to the Ram temple donation theft row. The Samajwadi Party has already declared Tej Narayan Pandey as its candidate from Ayodhya.
The chief minister also criticised the previous Samajwadi Party government over the development of Ayodhya, alleging that the city received only three to four hours of electricity then and remained littered with heaps of garbage.
He also alleged that the SP government had imposed restrictions on Ramlila performances and erected barricades in Ayodhya.
“The same Ayodhya is today writing a new chapter of development while giving shape to a new concept of Ram Rajya,” he said.
The exchange comes amid preparations for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, expected to be held early next year.
Yadav dares Adityanath
Yadav had on Thursday challenged Adityanath to contest from Ayodhya, claiming that the BJP has been conducting surveys since the SP announced its candidate and has failed to find a suitable nominee for the seat.
At the Balrampur event, Adityanath also accused the SP of misgovernance, protecting criminals and failing to provide employment opportunities to young people.
“The SP is the party that sold the state and left it in a decrepid condition. That is why I say the real meaning of ‘PDA’ is ‘Pradesh Dubao Alliance’ (sink-the-state alliance),” he said, referring to the Akhilesh Yadav’s coinage for ‘pichhde, Dalit and alpsankhyak (backward classes, Dalits and minorities)’.
Why is Ayodhya significant?
Ayodhya is important as a primary sacred pilgrimage site in Hinduism, the traditional birthplace of Lord Ram.
Ayodhya, the city of Ram Mandir, holds profound political significance in India as the core catalyst that transformed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from a marginal political force into a dominant national party, reshaping the country’s public discourse around cultural nationalism.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, SP won the Faizabad seat, with Awadhesh Prasad defeating the BJP’s Lallu Singh. Ayodhya falls in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat.
Adityanath currently represents the Gorakhpur Urban assembly constituency. Akhilesh Yadav, the former UP CM, is Member of Parliament (MP) for Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Dynastic politics
Accusing the opposition party of pursuing dynastic politics, Adityanath said the SP had failed to provide adequate representation to Dalits and backward communities in its Rajya Sabha nominations.
He claimed that one of the two seats won by the SP had gone to party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle, while the other had been given to a wealthy businessman.
Apart from Ram Gopal Yadav, SP nominated Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani, an industrialist and sports administrator to Rajya Sabha.
Adityanath also accused successive governments led by the Bahujan Samaj Party and the SP of failing to complete a bridge at Mathura Ghat here, claiming that work progressed only after the BJP came to power.
He said the BJP government has provided government jobs to 9.5 lakh youths over the past nine-and-a-half years and pledged that Balrampur would not be allowed to lag in terms of development.
The chief minister said his government has put in place a system to provide assistance and compensation to families affected by disasters within 24 hours, and is taking steps to ensure prompt compensation in cases of human-wildlife conflict.
The chief minister said the state had witnessed no riots under the present government and warned that attempts to disturb public order or threaten women’s safety would invite strict action.
“I invite you to file your nomination from Ayodhya, and I will too, and try my luck there once. The fight should be face-to-face.”
“Today, no one can incite riots or create anarchy in the state, nor can anyone dare to threaten the safety of women,” he said.
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