Akhilesh Yadav responds to Yogi Adityanath's counterchallenge: 'Just one of our young...'

Hours after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath presented a counterchallenge to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the SP scion almost dismissively said a young candidate is enough to take on the BJP in Ayodhya, pointing to the Ram temple donation theft row. Earlier today, speaking at an event in Balrampur, the UP CM took a fresh swipe at Yadav responding to his alleged challenge to contest elections from Ayodhya. Yogi invited Akhilesh to file his nomination from the same constituency, saying he was ready to contest against him directly. "Akhilesh ji challenges me to contest elections from Ayodhya. I offer you this: you also file your nomination from Ayodhya, and I will do the same. Let us test our luck once and settle this face-to-face. Why fight through your followers when the battle should be direct?" Yogi said. Yogi's reply came after Yadav had on Thursday challenged the chief minister to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh elections from Ayodhya, which had been central to the BJP's temple politics over the years. "The Samajwadi Party is rattled. He (Yadav) can no longer see the development taking place in the state, nor does he have the ability to recognise it. He challenges me to contest the election from Ayodhya. I offer you to file your nomination from Ayodhya, and I will contest from there too. Let us test our luck once. Why fight through your followers? The contest should be face-to-face," the chief minister said. In an indication of a strong biuld-up towards the UP assembly elections slated earlier next year, Akhilesh Yadav was quick to reply to Yogi. "One of our young 'PDA' sentinels is enough to defeat the donation thieves in Ayodhya. Those who give clean chits to thieves are partners in crime. The public will end their arrogance. Have you forgotten the Lok Sabha?" Yadav said in an X post. The 'PDA' is an acronym for pichhda (backward classes), Dalit, and alpsankhyak (minorities), often used by the Samajwadis as a slogan. "Ever since we announced our candidate, the BJP has been holding survey after survey, and it is falling behind in every survey. We are now hearing that they have not been able to find a new candidate for Ayodhya. If the chief minister, who makes tall claims, is so confident, he should contest the election from Ayodhya himself and prove it," the Samajwadi chief added in his post.