BJP would get more than 50 seats in 1st phase: Amit Shah

Image courtesy: ANI

Lucknow:  BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday said BSP is the main rival in first two phases of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and Samajwadi Party in the rest, as he accused Akhilesh Yadav of getting into an "unholy alliance". "As per the trend of first phase, we will get more than 50 seats (out of 73). In the first two phases we will be getting more than 90 seats (out of total 140). The main rival in these two phases is BSP. In the next phases, the rival will be SP," Shah told reporters here. He claimed that issues like payment of cane dues, loans at zero per cent interest to farmers, anti-Romeo squads to check crime against women, and some other key points in BJP manifesto had attracted youth and common people and they were supporting BJP. Terming the Congress-SP alliance as "unholy", Shah said if SP had considered what Lohia had thought about Congress, it would not have forged the pact. "This is alliance of those who ran corrupt governments. UP is behal (suffering) in this regime and cases of riots, rapes and murders have increased. Due to appeasement on basis of caste and religion, people are harassed and they want development. SP government has failed miserably," he said. "The decision of alliance has been taken to avoid defeat in polls," he added. Slamming SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shah said he has conceded defeat by sacrificing 105 (of the 403) seats to Congress. On the chief minister's charge that 'acche din' is elusive in UP, he said, "By saying this, Akhilesh has accepted that he has failed. After ruling for five years, he is asking when will acche din come. It will come after March 11, when BJP will form government." When asked about his views on Mayawati's BSP, Shah said, "Both SP and BSP protect each other on corruption. What probe has Akhilesh  instituted against BSP leaders against whom there were corruption charges?" On Muslim clerics supporting different parties, the BJP chief said, "BJP does not face any threat nor challenge because of them. It shows desperation of political parties." About opposition's charge that BJP was trying to polarize voters, Shah said, "What have we done for polarisation? It is being said as threat of defeat is looming large over them." He also alleged that the Akhilesh government did not support the Centre for development of the state. "We have given Rs 1 lakh crore per year to UP. Our schemes were not implemented," Shah said, citing examples. Talking about giving tickets to turncoats leading to bad blood among BJP's ticket aspirants, he said no one is an outsider once they join the party.