Akhilesh rules out alliance in future
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out the possibility of alliance with Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party or any other group for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
He also contradicted speculations about a possible patch-up with his warring uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.
The SP chief also denied that his party planned to withdraw the application filed to the UP assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of Shivpal Yadav from the membership of the House under the anti-defection law.
“Samajwadi Party is all geared up and has emerged as the only hope of the people, who are realising their mistake of electing the Bharatiya Janata Party. We talk of development and our cadre will move ahead with this agenda,” Akhilesh Yadav said while addressing the party workers at the SP headquarters here on Wednesday.
“The SP will never forge an electoral alliance with any party in the future. Assembly elections are far but our partymen are not in favour of an alliance. We don’t intend to stitch up alliances,” he said.
On the possibility of a patch-up with his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who has founded the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), Akhilesh Yadav said, “We have filed a petition before the Speaker of the UP assembly. It is up to the Speaker take a decision on it. We are not withdrawing the application.”
Reports about SP withdrawing its petition filed to the Speaker had triggered speculation that Shivpal Yadav may return to the SP fold.
Akhilesh said that in the bypolls to 11 assembly seats in UP, the vote percentage of the BJP would go down “despite the blatant misuse of official machinery” by the ruling party.
Hitting out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the SP president said that saying that there was Ram rajya was unfair to Lord Ram.
“Ram ko dhokha hai” (it is cheating Lord Ram),” Yadav said, while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party in UP of having taken lessons from “Kalyugi Ravan”.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has claimed in the past that the state is moving towards Ram rajya.
He alleged that Yogi Adityanath had failed on all fronts and development had taken a back seat in UP.
“I can’t call him yogi as his behaviour is against what Lord Krishna preached in the Gita,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
“Had there been an institution where a complaint could be registered for using the term ‘yogi’, I would have been the first to do so as he cannot provide justice to the people,” the SP chief added.
“The BJP is ruling by creating terror. Those who raise their voice against the misdeeds (of the government) are silenced. Corruption has increased manifold and no development work is going on due to which all sections of society are aggrieved,” he said.
Akhilesh Yadav referred to the recent murder of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari in Lucknow to slam the BJP government on law and order issue.