Rejecting an alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar ‘Azad’ on Saturday criticized Akhilesh Yadav for keeping tabs on the ‘Dalit vote bank’, alleging that the former chief minister was his Don’t want Dalits in the party.
Azad said that in the last six months he had held several meetings with Yadav.
He said, “Finally after all the discussions I felt that Akhilesh Yadav does not want Dalits in this alliance, he only wants Dalit vote bank. He humiliated the people of Bahujan Samaj, I tried for 1 month 3 days but no alliance Could have happened,” Azad said while addressing a press conference in Lucknow.
Azad said that his political party, the Azad Samaj Party, would not forge an alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
Notably, Akhilesh Yadav has forged alliances with several smaller parties to increase the chances of the SP returning to power in the upcoming state elections.
Azad further said that backward class leaders, Dalits and others are supporting Yadav with the belief that he will do social justice.
Azad said, ‘However, I believe that Akhilesh Yadav does not understand the meaning of social justice. It doesn’t happen with words.
Taking a dig at Yadav, Azad said that his silence on the atrocities on Dalits shows that he is now behaving like a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“After meeting yesterday, I left the responsibility of the alliance decision on Yadav ji that you are my elder brother. I believe he should have called me,” Azad said.
“We have decided that we will not forge an alliance with them,” he said.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. Voting in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.
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