Akhilesh to kick-off 2019 LS campaign with cycle rally

Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has begun all preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Akhilesh, along with members of the Samajwadi Party, will kick-off a cycle yatra that begins from Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj town that will be 50 kilometres. The rally will also feature the family of "Khajanchi", a child born in a queue outside a bank soon after demonetisation, a party spokesman said on Tuesday. The Samajwadi Party will wave its flag to the family before the rally begins.

Earlier, Khajanchi was born in a queue after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had imposed the note ban in November 2016. The note ban did away with old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Named "Khajanchi" (treasurer), the child's family was given a house under the Lohia Awas Scheme by the then state government.

Akhilesh had in 2017 adopted Khajanchi's village a year later. The Samajwadi Party lost 184 seats during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, ending up with only 54 seats.

The BJP campaign, which was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP Party President Amit Shah, saw the saffron party surge to victory. The BJP won 325 seats, 278 seats up from the previous election. Even as attempts are underway to forge opposition unity ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls to take on the BJP, the seat-sharing among these parties may not be an easy task in Uttar Pradesh. BSP supremo Mayawati has already made it clear that her party will enter into any alliance only if it gets a "respectable share" of the seats to contest.