The veteran leader favored Azamgarh over Mainpuri wherein he had defeated Ramakant Yadav of the BJP by more than 60,000 votes.
In a major setback, the ruling Samajwadi Party fared poorly in the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls in UP. The party won only five out of 80 Lok Sabha seats of the state. Surprisingly all the winning MPs of Samajwadi Party belong to the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan.
Probably the outcome of the polls had encouraged Mulayam Singh Yadav to close his ranks and keep the family together.
This could be a major reason as to why he chose his grand nephew Tej Pratap Yadav over all other claimants.