Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he will not contest the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections himself even as he announced that an alliance between his party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal was finalised. Yadav said his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who broke away from the SP to form the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL), will get the “due honour”. “Our alliance with the RLD is final. Seat-sharing is to be finalised,” Akhilesh said. The RLD enjoys support among farmers of Western Uttar Pradesh and is on the same page with the SP on the issue of opposing the Centre's three farm laws.
The SP has already announced an alliance with Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SPSP).
Yadav, who is an SP MP from Azamgarh and regarded as the CM face of his party, said, “I will not be contesting the assembly election myself.” The SP chief, who was a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) when he served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012-2017, did not give any reason for the decision. However, later Yadav said a final decision on his contesting the polls will be taken by the party.
On whether he has held any talks with the AIMIM or Mamata Banerjee's TMC for the state polls, he said there have been no such discussions. Terming his party's tie up with the SBSP as a natural alliance, Yadav said people in eastern Uttar Pradesh have accepted it and it will ensure the BJP's defeat.
Countering the “tall claims of BJP of helping people”, Yadav said, “Not even a single case was filed against BJP workers during Covid. As our workers were out for help, cases were lodged against them. The SP is the only party that can face BJP and stand tall before them in the interest of people. Farmers are also with the SP. This time there will be a change in the state and people of the state have made up their minds,” he said.
Jinnah remark: Yogi asks Akhilesh to apologise
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said that Akhilesh Yadav should “apologise to the people of the country for comparing Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who divided India”. “I was listening to Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav's statement. He was comparing Jinnah, who divided the country, with the Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel, who united the country. This is extremely shameful. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel laid the foundation of India's unity and integrity and is its creator,” Adityanath said.
