Akhilesh does a Kejriwal; e-rickshaws shore up support for SP in Kanpur

Rickshaw pullers, e-rickshaw and auto-rickshaw drivers have become new supporters of SP in Kanpur

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Akhilesh Yadav

Archis Mohan Kanpur

Last Updated : Feb 15 2017 | 10:13 AM IST

Rakesh Kumar, in his forties, was until three months back a rickshaw puller and supplemented his meagre income to support his family of six by working as a labourer.

Today, Kumar has become a mascot for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s re-election bid. In December, Kumar became one of the 224 rickshaw pullers in Kanpur city on whom fortune smiled when the CM himself gave each of them a battery operated e-rickshaw, and free of cost.

“The contest is between kamal (Bharatiya Janata Party) and cycle (Samajwadi Party),” Kumar speaks about the five assembly segments that are part of

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