Azam, Azamgarh... The A-Z Of Troubles

Just months after mounting a challenge to Yogi Adityanath in the Uttar Pradesh election, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is himself beset by a twin challenge.

- Prashant Srivastava

One is external: he has to save the party’s bastions Azamgarh and Rampur in Lok Sabha bypolls due on June 23. Both are prestige seats, having been vacated by Akhilesh himself and party stalwart Azam Khan, respectively, when they moved to the assembly in March. The other is internal: quelling dissension from uncle Shivpal Yadav and Azam Khan. The first has a strong internal component too, mapped by the drama that preceded candidate selection—the party managed to finalise names just hours before the nomination wound up.