Uttar Pradesh assembly polls: we are going to contest elections with Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties, says NCP Chief Sharad Pawar

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that in Uttar Pradesh, NCP is going to contest elections with Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties.

In UP, the NCP will join hands with Samajwadi Party and like minded parties. He claimed the change is visible in UP and said that Swami Prasad Maurya’s exit from BJP and his decision to join Samajwadi party is just a beginning as more and more leaders from various parties are ready to cooperate with the opposition in UP. He hoped that Samajwadi Party and allies will form the government in UP. He announced that he will soon participate at the meeting convened by Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav to discuss election strategy.

Pawar alleged that the BJP plans to contest the election on communal lines but said the voters will not support such politics. ''People need change in UP and they will not accept BJP's communal politics,'' he said.

Pawar lashed out at UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s 80:20 statement saying that it does not augur well. Yogi Aadityanath had said 80 percent people in the state support BJP while 20 per cent oppose it - a comment widely seen as pitting the state's 80 per cent Hindu population against the 20 per cent minorities. ''It shows their mentality,'' he noted. He hoped that Samajwadi party with allies will come to power in UP.