SP will defeat BJP in U.P., others should decide if they want to help: Akhilesh Yadav

The Samajwadi Party (SP) is confident of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, party president Akhilesh Yadav said, adding that it was up to other parties to decide whether they wished to aid the SP in its fight.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) is confident of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday, adding that it was up to other parties to decide whether they wished to aid the SP in its fight.

“Our party is competing with the BJP at every level and in the Lok Sabha elections, we will take on the BJP and defeat it. The rest of the parties should decide whether they want to help the SP or not,” Mr. Yadav said, addressing a press conference.

The former U.P. CM added that the current BJP-led U.P. government must give an account of the last six years of its rule, alleging that the highest levels of injustice and crimes against women are committed in the State.

“In the NITI Aayog report, Uttar Pradesh is at the 22nd position in the development index. The State recorded the highest number of crimes against women as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. The condition of the State in terms of education and health is pathetic,” Mr. Yadav said.

The SP chief further alleged that the BJP government is not only the enemy of the common people and farmers, but also of animals, birds, trees and plants.

“When I went to meet Mohammad Arif in Amethi, who rescued an stork, the government snatched the stork from him. I went to Kanpur jail to meet a party MLA and the MLA was transferred to another jail. Senior party leader Azam Khan Sahab is being tortured by the government along with his family because he is a socialist. Is this democracy? If someone puts up a poster against them, the BJP government gets an FIR filed, if a journalist asks a question about the government fulfilling its promises, the government puts him in jail,” the former CM said.

He also took potshots at the State’s Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh, who had attacked the SP chief recently. Mr. Yadav claimed that the BJP minister had in fact helped the SP in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll, and ‘can do tourism with anyone at anytime’.