Tej Pratap's win in Mainpuri takes the Yadav family tally in New Delhi to five MPs.
At the Hindupur village, in Mainpuri, almost everyone voted for the Samajwadi Party candidate, Tej Pratap Yadav in the state by-elections. Hindupur is not an ordinary village - in spite of being part of the VIP constituency, represented by Mulayam Singh Yadav for over two decades, does not have electricity. People unanimously complained on how there isn't even an electricity pole, forget connections. They rely on lanterns and candles to get by at night.
After the stunning victory of the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, NDTV caught up with 26-year-old Tej Pratap - the latest, somewhat reluctant hero, of the first family of UP politics. He won the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat by a massive margin of over three lakh votes.
The MSc graduate from Leeds University is only just beginning to adapt to public life, as hundreds of people throng him every day to meet him with their demands. Of those present, most wanted electricity for their villages. On ground, proof of the acute power crisis in this VIP bastion, was visible everywhere. And while the people of Mainpuri have been voting for the Yadav family for so many years, their patience may run out soon.
Tej Pratap claims its one of his priorities, "There were around 1000 villages that we identified which were not electrified but by the end of next year there won't be any left."
His win in the family bastion of Mainpuri - a seat vacated by his granduncle Mulayam Singh Yadav - takes the family tally in New Delhi to five MPs. These are Mulayam Singh Yadav from Azamgarh, Dimple Yadav from Kannauj, Dharmendra Yadav from Badaun and Akshay Yadav from Firozabad. His uncle, Akhilesh Yadav, is the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
This had led the opposition parties to charge them with dynastic politics, a charge he rubbishes saying politics was in fact not his childhood dream, "It was in my blood but when you're a child there are different things in your mind and I never considered politics seriously". He adds that it is the public that elects them at the end of the day.
For now, as an MP, he has more immediate challenges of attending almost 30 marriages a day and eating all the sweets he is offered.