Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has called on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to quit the ruling party, accusing the Yogi Adityanath-led government of failing to protect the interests of these disadvantaged communities.
Yadav's remarks came in the wake of allegations that the recruitment process for 69,000 teachers in state-run primary schools was manipulated to disadvantage SC and OBC candidates.
Yadav urged SC and OBC leaders within the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party and bolster the PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) social alliance.
He claimed that the Yogi Adityanath government had manipulated the recruitment process to conceal its failure in ensuring a transparent and fair hiring system. Yadav further demanded that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath resign if he is unable to secure justice for SCs and OBCs in the recruitment process.
"The BJP government is discriminating against the poor and marginalized sections of society, undermining the constitutional provision for reservation," Yadav alleged.
He also took aim at the Central government, criticizing the lateral entry of joint secretary and director-level officers, which he argued violates constitutional reservation provisions for SCs and OBCs.
Yadav also addressed the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, citing a recent incident in Sultanpur where an executive engineer was allegedly killed by a junior engineer and contractor after halting payments for substandard construction work. He claimed that the state government had lost control over law and order, and that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's "zero tolerance" policy had collapsed.
In addition to his criticisms of the BJP-led state government, Yadav highlighted ongoing issues of inflation and unemployment, expressing confidence that the people of Uttar Pradesh will vote to remove the Yogi Adityanath government in the 2027 state assembly elections.
Yadav's statements are likely to escalate political tensions in the state, as the SP continues to position itself as a champion of marginalized communities in the lead-up to the next electoral contest.
