Akhilesh Yadav is fast emerging as a serious challenger to the BJP in the 2022 UP elections (File)
Lucknow:
There is no longer any place for “any BJP MLA, minister” in the Samajwadi Party – in the words of Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday morning, a day after welcoming seven former MPs, including two ministers, who quit the Yogi Adityanath government this week. Gave. Next month’s election.
“Let me say this… I will not take any BJP MLA (or) minister now. They (BJP) can deny (their leaders) tickets if they want,” Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.
Mr. Yadav on Friday Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini were inductedThe former minister and prominent OBC leader, as well as five other BJP MLAs and one MLA from its ally Apna Dal.
The flood of OBC leaders who walked out of the BJP and Yogi Adityanath government in a span of 72 hours this week is widely seen as a huge hole in the party’s re-election bid.
Besides Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini, five BJP MLAs – Roshan Lal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati, Mukesh Verma, Vinay Shakya and Bhagwati Sagar – also joined yesterday.
Choudhary Amar Singh of Apna Dal, a BJP ally – also singled out Bala Awasthi.
And now it appears that the Samajwadi Party has closed ranks.
Former BJP ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini joined Samajwadi Party yesterday
Mr Yadav’s announcement came hours after Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad said that seat-sharing talks between his Azad Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party had broken down.
Akhilesh Yadav said, “…we are saying that now we will not take any other leader in Samajwadi Party…we sacrificed a lot to bring people together (but) now there is no scope to take someone else Not there.”
Chandrashekhar Azad had hit out at Yadav, saying he “does not want the support of Dalits”.,
Ahead of the election, Mr. Yadav has formed an alliance of regional parties, which are dominated by non-Yadav OBC communities, to defeat the BJP.
The BJP’s strategy to defeat the Samajwadi Party in 2017 was to win over the non-Yadav OBC castes, as Mr. Yadav’s most loyal voters are considered Yadavs and Muslims.
Akhilesh Yadav also joined hands with Omprakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party last year and Jayant Choudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal in December. In November he told NDTV that he had envisioned A “Pinsar” movement – regional parties and angry farmers – leading to the defeat of the BJP,
Voting for the new government in seven phases in Uttar Pradesh is starting from February 10, the results of which will be out on March 10.
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