Lucknow, Mar 8: The Samajwadi Party on Friday released a list of six candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, fielding party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav from its stronghold Mainpuri.

Dharmendra Yadav will contest from Badaun, Akshay Yadav from Firozabad, Kamlesh Katheria from Etawah, Bhailal Kol from Robertsganj and Shabbir Valmiki from Bahraich, the party announced.

The list was signed by SP national chief general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav.

The party left Mainpuri, described as its "safest" seat, from Mulayam Yadav, who is MP from Azamgarh right now.

He represented Mainpuri in the Lok Sabha in 1996, 2004 and 2009. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam Yadav contested from Azamgarh and Mainpuri and won both.

In Mainpuri, his victory margin was a massive 3.64 lakh votes.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Palakkad (Kerala) (PTI): Hotel and restaurant owners on Saturday held a protest march in Palakkad against the recent nearly Rs 1,000 hike in commercial gas cylinder prices.

The protesters marched through the town holding placards and images of gas cylinders. They also carried two cylinders on a stretcher with a wreath placed on top, according to visuals aired on television channels.

The hotel and restaurant owners contended that it would be difficult for them to sustain their businesses in view of the high cost of commercial gas cylinders.

They said that many of them had been forced to shut their establishments earlier due to the scarcity of commercial gas cylinders, and that most had only recently reopened.

“But the sudden increase in commercial gas cylinder prices has affected our operations,” the protesters said.

Similar concerns were raised by restaurant owners and workers from other parts of the state in response to queries from reporters.

The Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association had on Friday announced a statewide protest strike on May 6 against the Rs 993 hike in commercial LPG cylinder prices.

KHRA state president G Jayapal said that all hotels and restaurants across Kerala would remain shut on that day in protest against what he termed an “unfair” increase in LPG prices.

He added that over the past five months, the price of a single cylinder had increased by a total of Rs 1,498.

On May 6, establishments will remain closed, and protest marches and dharnas will be held in front of district headquarters and oil company offices, he said.