Akhilesh Yadav, the chief of the Samajwadi Party (SP), maintained his attack on the Congress after the SP failed to form an alliance with the grand old party in Madhya Pradesh, news agency ANI reported. The Samajwadi Party chairman, who has openly lambasted the Congress for what he calls treachery, has stated that if this misunderstanding continues, the INDIA coalition would be unable to defeat the BJP.
Slamming Congress, SP Chief stated: "If Congress didn't want to give seats (in MP), then they should have said it before. Today, SP is fighting only on seats where it has its own organisation. Now after Madhya Pradesh, I know that the INDIA alliance is for the (parliamentary) elections at the national level. If Congress continues to behave like this, then who will stand with them? If we fight against the BJP with confusion in our minds, then we won't succeed."
Despite the creation of the I.N.D.I.A coalition, the SP president stated that the SP approach will be centred on working for the PDA (Pichada, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak).
"PDA was formed first and the INDIA alliance was formed later on and I have said on multiple occasions that although the INDIA alliance is there, our strategy is of PDA and PDA will be the one who will defeat NDA (National Democratic Alliance)" the SP Chief was quoted by ANI in its report.
Akhilesh Yadav was addressing a public awareness campaign event in Shahjahanpur when he advised party members to conduct similar events in other Lok Sabha constituencies to make people and party workers aware of the types of problems and conspiracies they will encounter from the BJP in the future.
"Till the Lok Sabha elections are held, a similar programme should be held in all the Lok Sabha constituencies where the party workers can be informed about the kind of challenges and conspiracies that they will have to face in future, how BJP misuses government machinery, bombards propaganda and spreads lies to such extent that the people at times accept it to be truth," said Akhilesh Yadav.
"They (BJP) do politics of hatred and to make others aware of that, SP will continue this kind of 'Shivir' (public awareness campaign event)," he added.
Meanwhile, on Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai's statement, Samajwadi party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said: "...If they (Congress) want to strengthen the INDIA alliance and want to defeat the BJP, then they should bring together all the opposition parties. Only then the BJP can be removed...They should have stood by the promise they made in Madhya Pradesh. Only then will the INDIA alliance be strengthened and the BJP will be defeated..."
'Friendship In Delhi, Wrestling In states', Chouhan Slams I.N.D.I.A Bloc
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, slammed the INDIA alliance on Friday after its components ran candidates against each other in assembly elections, saying the opposition coalition is motivated by the slogan "friendship in Delhi and wrestling in states," PTI reported.
“We have been saying from day one that this is a ‘bemail gathbandhan (out of sync coalition). It is like friendship in Delhi (Centre), and wrestling in states. Neither their views are similar nor their hearts are at the same place. It is falling apart because of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the BJP leader said in a statement issued to the media.