Lucknow, Mar 22 (IANS): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and SP MP Azam Khan has resigned from their respective Lok Sabha seats.

Akhilesh Yadav has resigned from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat while Azam Khan has given up his Rampur Lok Sabha seat.

Akhilesh will now retain his Karhal assembly seat and Azam Khan will keep his Rampur seat.

The decision to retain the assembly seats by these two leaders is a clear indication that the SP will continue to fight the BJP on its home turf.

The presence of Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan- whenever he is released from jail-in the state assembly is bound to give trouble to the ruling BJP.

A senior SP functionary told IANS, that the first priority of the party would be to retain Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats when by-elections are held.

"Those who think that we are demoralised with the UP results are sadly mistaken. We are very much on the battlefield and will now fight with greater vigour," he said.

The decision of Akhilesh Yadav to retain his assembly seat is also a major morale booster for his party workers.

Meanwhile, the nomination of two SP candidates, Udaiveer Singh and Rakesh Yadav, from the Etah council seat has been cancelled by the returning officer and two BJP candidates have been declared elected unopposed.