BSP supremo Mayawati with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav (Express photo)TWO DAYS after Akhilesh Yadav announced his party’s tie-up with the BSP for Lok Sabha polls, SP MLA from Sirsaganj Hari Om Yadav on Monday alleged that the alliance would survive only till he keeps bowing down to Mayawati’s wishes.
Hari Om also claimed that SP workers were not happy with the decision, and said he would organise a ‘Pol Kholo Sammelan’ (a gathering to ‘expose’ the alliance) on January 22.
The SP MLA went on to say that party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav was “hand-in-glove” with BJP, and that his son Akshay Yadav, who is SP MP from Firozabad, had been “harassing” party workers in the district for the past five years.
Akhilesh dodged a question about Hari Om’s claims at the press conference held in Lucknow Monday.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Hari Om said, “To discuss these issues with party workers, I will organise a ‘Pol Kholo Sammelan’ on January 22 at Ramlila Maidan in Firozabad. When BSP’s alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav did go on for long, how can anyone expect it to be successful now? No ‘Yadav’ officials got postings in districts or police stations during the BSP regime.”
He further said, “Akhilesh ji to pehle hi surrender kar chuke hain. Aur Samajwadi Party ka karyakarta yeh chahta hai ki hamara neta kabhi surrender na kare kisi ke neeche. Akhiklesh Yadavji ki bhool hogi jeevan ki yeh gathbandhan. Yeh gathbandhan tabhi tak chal sakta hai, jab tak humare rashtriya adhyaksha ji behanji ki haan mein haan milate rahenge, ghutne tekte rahenge tabtak chalta rahega (Akhilesh has already surrendered and SP workers would never want their leader to bow down to anyone. This alliance will be his biggest mistake. It will continue only until Akhilesh agrees with everything Mayawati says and bows down to her).”
“Akhilesh is a popular leader with a clean image. The public is not happy with BJP and Akhilesh was their only option. Had he contested alone, he would have benefitted more,” said the three-time MLA.
In July 2017, the Firozabad police had re-opened historysheets of Hari Om Yadav and his son Vijay Pratap Yadav at the Shikohabad police station, after an inquiry found their historysheets were destroyed in 2013, when SP was in power.
