UP polls: NDA slams Akhilesh Yadav for ‘real contest between SP and BJP’ remark
Lucknow, Aug 25 (IANS) National Democratic Alliance leaders, particularly Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Ministers, on Tuesday criticised Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying that the alliance between the latter’s party and the Congress, in view of the upcoming state Assembly polls, “is only for political gains”.
The reactions came after the SP chief remarked that the real contest in the upcoming UP polls “will be between the SP and the BJP”, while addressing party workers on Monday.
Speaking to IANS, UP Minister Danish Azad Ansari said that the conflict between the Congress and the SP is “visible on the public platform”.
Referring to a recent heated exchange between Congress MP Imran Masood and SP legislator Ashu Malik during a public meeting in Saharanpur, he said: “They don’t want to come together for public welfare or for the state’s progress; rather they want to unite only for their own political gains. People know their reality, and therefore they will not be misled.”
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal also criticised the SP chief, saying: “Akhilesh Yadav may say whatever he wants, but under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has accelerated the pace of development to make Uttar Pradesh, ‘Uttam Pradesh’.”
“When elections are held in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP will form a government with a massive majority. Whether the BJP’s contest is with Akhilesh Yadav or someone else is for the opposition parties to decide. There is no doubt that the BJP will win the election,” he told IANS.
Cabinet Minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar remarked: “The Samajwadi Party should stop making preparations in this lifetime and talk about the next. Where is the fight in this lifetime? The way (Asaduddin) Owaisi Ji is taking the air out of them (Opposition parties)…There is no meaning to the statement.”
UP Minister and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad added: “If the Congress and the SP had worked while being in power in the state, the public wouldn’t have chosen the BJP…all parties have their own ideologies on the basis of which they will be contesting polls.”
–IANS
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