Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday reiterated that an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will be formed in Uttar Pradesh to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
His comment came a day after BSP chief Mayawati said she was ready to join an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance if her party gets a ‘respectable’ share of seats or otherwise fight alone while he had called on opposition parties to ally to defeat the BJP in the state in order to prevent it coming back to power at the Centre.
“Now, the people of the country want change, and all eyes are on Uttar Pradesh because UP’s verdict will be the country’s verdict. The BJP is jittery. It has damaged the country both economically and socially. It has left the social fabric in tatters,” Yadav said at the SP headquarters in Lucknow during an event to mark Vishwakarma Jayanti. The All India Vishwakarma Shilpkaar Mahasabha organised the programme.
The poor did not get anything under the BJP government, he said, adding prices had escalated, and demonetisation and the Goods and Service Tax (GST) caused the economy to crash.
“It’s time to show the BJP the door. We will form an alliance to oust the BJP,” said the former UP chief minister, who had on several occasions expressed willingness to make any sacrifice for the success of an anti-BJP alliance.
Praising the Vishwakarma community, he said: “Lord Vishwakarma is another form of Lord Brahma (the creator of the world in the Hindu pantheon) and is known for architecture. Several eminent inventors and several leaders have been from the Vishwakarma community.”
Seeking the community’s support, he said it must take the socialist route to progress.
First Published: Sep 18, 2018 02:01 IST
Source: HindustanTimes