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Akhilesh exudes bonhomie towards alliance-in-making
Country’s two-third political parties are here, and with this, people of the country are ready to defeat BJP by two-thirds majority. The BJP will be wiped out in LS elections, says SP chief
LUCKNOW Samajwadi Party (SP) president, who is likely to lead the joint opposition in Uttar Pradesh, exuded bonhomie towards the alliance-in-the-making, indicating he was fully on board. Yadav, who arrived in the Congress-ruled Karnataka’s capital (Bengaluru) to attend the two-day joint Opposition meeting, hoped that the people of the country would give the BJP a massive defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Country’s two-third political parties are here, and with this, people of the country are ready to defeat the BJP by two-thirds majority. The BJP will be wiped out in the LS elections,” said the SP chief.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary also expressed similar sentiments - though cryptically. The third alliance partner of the SP in UP--Apna Dal (K) president too is attending the second edition of the joint opposition meeting in Benglauru.
“Coming over to Karnataka always feels great because I have learnt many chapters of life here. Now, will write yet another ‘historical chapter’ for the country here. ‘History’ has a connect here, now ‘future’ too will get linked,” Yadav tweeted in a mix of English and Hindi. He had studied at an engineering college in Mysore, Karnataka.
In the evening, when the meeting began, Yadav tweeted a picture of all the opposition leaders at the meeting and captioned it in Hindi: “All the shoulders have a responsibility...now, here is new preparation.”
Since reaching Bengaluru, Yadav indicated that he is fully on board. The coutours of the alliance, might get slightly clearer in the day-long session on Tuesday, but the joint opposition has sent out ‘United we stand’ signal from Bengaluru.
Between the first Opposition meeting (in Patna on June 23) and this one, Yadav had indicated softening his stand on a possible alliance with the Congress and a better deal to it in UP.
His original stand indicated that he wanted the Congress to play second fiddle in UP. He had meant that the Congress should support the SP without asking much in return, if it wishes to oust the BJP.
He seemed to have softened his stand with apparent pressure from both alliance partner RLD (which wants Congress on board) and the Congress.
The SP chief reached Bengaluru with his party’s backward class leaders -Ramachal Rajbhar, Lalji Verma, chief of Apna Dal (K), Krishna Patel, SP chief national general secretary and strategist Ramgopal Yadav and national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary.
Taking a swipe at the BJP-led NDA, Yadav said: “Those who copy in exams do not pass. The moment the BJP learnt about the opposition meeting, they called NDA meeting. Horse-trading by the BJP in UP indicates that it knows it is heading for a defeat.”
Now, it is becoming clear that the SP will lead the alliance in UP with Congress getting a decent deal. Yadav, it is said, will work on bringing more smaller parties on board.
