After the humiliating defeat of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the by-election of the Gola assembly seat, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati has mocked Akhilesh Yadav. She said that more than the victory of the BJP, the people have been discussing the poor show of the SP candidate. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that there was no BSP candidate in the Gola by-elections hence SP cannot make any excuse. With Gola results declared, SP has not been able to any of the three by-elections held in UP after the 2022 assembly polls.
SP first lost its bastion in Azamgarh and Rampur and now its candidate faced defeat in Gola assembly seat. While SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav himself vacated the Azamgarh parliamentary seat, the Rampur seat had fallen vacant after senior leader Azam Khan had resigned on being elected for the legislative assembly. BJP had snatched both Azamgarh and Rampur parliamentary seats from SP in the by-elections held two months ago.
Commenting on the results of the recently held Gola assembly by-elections, Mayawati on Monday tweeted that despite BSP not being fray the SP candidate lost badly by a margin of 34,298 votes. She said that in the next month the by-elections for the Mainpuri parliament and Ram assembly seat would be held and SP has to face the challenges of retaining both these. Mainpuri seat has fallen vacant due to the death of its MP Mulayam Singh Yadav, the legislator from Rampur; Azam Khan has been disqualified after being convicted for three years jail term in a hate speech case. More the last few decades, Samajwadi Party has been winning on both these seats.
Mayawati in her tweet stated that by-elections of Mainpuri and Rampur would prove whether SP is capable of taking BJP head-on or not. She said that usually, BSP does not contest by-elections and hence it would be worth watching how SP defeats BJP.
It may be mentioned that ever since the 2022 assembly polls have concluded both SP & BSP have been blaming each other for helping BJP in winning elections. While SP has been claiming that BSP trying to benefit BJP by fielding candidates, the latter has been denying it. According to Mayawati, BSP is the only party that can stop the victory chariot of the BJP and hence the minorities must vote for it.
Meanwhile, the SP would have to face a tough challenge from the BJP in the by-elections of Mainpuri and Rampur. The BJP has started luring backward Muslims in the name of a welfare scheme launched by it. The party is organizing conventions of backward Muslims in these areas. Besides the saffron party has also started looking for strong candidates in both these seats.
