Samajwadi Party willing to play second fiddle to BSP in 2019: Akhilesh Yadav

AGRA: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said that his party is willing to play second fiddle to BSP in order to ensure BJP’s defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Akhilesh, who was in Mainpuri on Sunday to unveil the statue of a former pradhan in Jaurai village of the district, said his party was willing to make a compromise and contest fewer seats if it helped to ensure BJP’s rout in the general elections next year.

“We have an alliance with the BSP and it will continue. If we have to sacrifice 2-4 seats to ensure BJP’s defeat, we will not back out,” he said.

Claiming that the prepoll grand alliance which won the recent bypolls in UP will continue in future too, Akhilesh said, “Our motive is to win elections against BJP and for this we are ready to ally with BSP.”

In a scathing attack on UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the SP chief said the BJP lost every seat where Yogi campaigned during the recent bypolls.

“We didn’t even go to Kairana and Noorpur but won the elections,” he said, adding that the victory is “a strong message against BJP”.