The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday suffered a major setback when it lost the prestigious Firozabad Lok Sabha seat with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law losing to actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar of Congress by a huge margin of over 85,000 votes.
Babbar, a former MP from Agra who rebelled against the SP and joined the Congress before the Lok Sabha elections in May, secured 3,12,728 votes while Dimple Yadav got 2,27,385 votes and ruling BSP nominee S P Singh Baghel 2,13,571 votes.
Firozabad seat was won by Dimple's husband Akhilesh Yadav in May general elections by a margin of 67, 301 votes against Baghel. Akhilesh, who had also won from Kannauj, vacated Firozabad seat.
While Raj Babbar, who contested the elections raising issue of "pariwarwaad" (dynastic rule), development of the constituency and Rahul Gandhi's work, SP sought votes on emotional plank asking them to elect Mulayam's 'bahu'.
Other than the Muslim and Yadav combination, the SP was also banking on Kalyan Singh to mobilise Lodh caste voters in favour of Dimple. Kalyan and his son Rajbir had campaigned extensively in Firozabad for Mulayam's daughter-in-law.
Reacting to his victory, Babbar said he had fought the poll on the plank of development and he would keep it in mind all the time.
About her SP rival, he said Dimple is "like my daughter" and he has nothing "harsh" to say against her. PTI
