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Maya working at BJP behest, says Akhilesh; BSP counters charge
National coordinator of the BSP Akash Anand countered Akhilesh, stating that the BSP was not just a party but a mission.
Lucknow: Even as leaders of opposition parties are calling for unity to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, in Uttar Pradesh the fight between the main opposition parties- Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is getting high-pitched.
Talking to the media on Thursday, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that Bahujan Samaj Party was working on the direction of the BJP. If the BSP had not assisted the BJP in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections, the latter would not have been able to form government, he said.
Akhilesh said the under-hand dealings between the BJP and BSP could be gauged from the support extended by the BSP in the President’s election as well as the by-poll for the Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats. The only concern of the BSP was to prepare a strategy to ensure defeat of the SP in the election. The BSP fielded candidate in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections to divide the vote of the SP that paved the way for victory of the BJP candidate, he said.
After the BSP broke the alliance following defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh had not targeted it whereas BSP chief Mayawati had attacked the SP chief through press statements and tweets. But on Thursday, Akhilesh made sharp attack on the BSP. “The BSP chief has locked herself in a self-made jail and her jailor is sitting in Delhi. Through her statements she does not attack the BJP. The SP is on her radar,” Akhilesh said.
However, national coordinator of the BSP Akash Anand countered Akhilesh, stating that the BSP was not just a party but a mission. In a series of tweets Anand said, “We always stand by the exploited and deprived sections of society. By supporting the women of a tribal society, BSP has strengthened the spirit of social justice and egalitarian society. But we fail to understand why you hate the dalits and tribals so much.”
“If you say that BSP is working on the direction of the BJP, make it clear before the people on whose direction the BSP- SP alliance was formed in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
“Who is imprisoned and who is jailer? That person is making a comment whose uncle as well as the leader of Rampur failed to understand why he was not coming out of the AC room, whose workers dare not ask him why does he wake up at 2 pm? Why are you living in an illusion, Akhilesh Yadav?” Anand said.
Anand shared the photos of the top SP leaders with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Yogi Adityanath on social media.
