Oppn unity has made BJP jittery: Akhilesh

Ridiculing Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah’s claim that the ruling party would win 73-plus seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that the BJP was saying this as the shaping up of opposition unity had frightened it.

“Samajwadi people are ready for Lok Sabha elections. What is our strategy, we will not disclose. But its implementation has begun and see their (BJP’s) condition,” Yadav told media persons in Lucknow on Monday.

“They are saying they will win 73-plus seats (in UP). Forget 73-plus, you have recently lost three Lok Sabha seats in bypolls. The BJP should first correct its arithmetic,” the former Chief Minister of UP said.

To a question on the possibility of a Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, Akhilesh said, “Big interviews about this tie-up are appearing in newspapers. A ‘mahagathbandhan’ will be formed. It is there and will stay in the future too. As far as UP is concerned, an alliance will be here also.”  

Earlier, on August 5, BJP president Amit Shah, while addressing a gathering in Chandauli, had claimed that the opposition was “spreading rumour about the impact on poll equation in UP if the SP and the BSP came together”.

“Even if Bua (BSP chief Mayawati), bhatija (Yadav) and Rahul (Gandhi) join hands, our tally (in Lok Sabha from UP) will be 74 instead of 73 now and not even 72,” he had said. 

In an apparent response, Yadav said that the people of the state had seen how the BJP had “deceived” them and how it had “driven a wedge between different communities for political gains and how it triggered hatred among people of different religions”.

“With the Lok Sabha election approaching, the BJP will forget issues like demonetisation and rake up new issues like defence industrial corridor. When ordinary roads are not being made and permissions are not being given for construction of bridges, how and when would such a corridor be built?” Akhilesh asked.

Referring to the SP’s laptop distribution initiative, Akhilesh said that it was not a political stunt. “Today, laptop is a necessity for every child. So, the SP, during its regime, distributed laptops. We distributed then and are doing it today as well. By distributing laptops, I am just trying to remind the BJP about their promises,” the SP chief added.

Akhilesh further said that his party had limited resources to distribute laptops to students but if the government wanted it could do so on a large scale. He also welcomed the start of the OPD of AIIMS at Rae Bareli from Monday.

“All the credit for the AIIMS should be given to the SP as my government had given the land for it. Even in Gorakhpur, the SP government had provided land, but there was no progress on the construction of the AIIMS there,” he said.