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‘PDA’ will defeat NDA, says Akhilesh; urges Oppn to show a ‘big heart’
Skirting pointed questions about his party’s view of a grand united Opposition front for the next year’s general elections, Akhilesh maintained that his slogan for Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh was: “Defeat 80, Oust BJP (Defeat BJP on all 80 UP LS seats to oust it from power in the country)”.
Lucknow: Revealing his formula to defeat the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav said on Saturday: “PDA will defeat NDA. PDA stands for Pichchde, Dalit, Alpasankhyak (Backward classes, dalits, minorities).”
Akhilesh was speaking at a conclave here, organised by a television news channel.
Skirting pointed questions about his party’s view of a grand united Opposition front for the next year’s general elections, Akhilesh maintained that his slogan for Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh was: “Defeat 80, Oust BJP (Defeat BJP on all 80 UP LS seats to oust it from power in the country)”.
“The BJP will be defeated on all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP if small parties as well as bigger anti-BJP national parties back us and show a big heart,” Akhilesh said, stressing that he had been maintaining that “the joint opposition should support the alliance partner which is strongest in a particular state. Whosoever is strongest, struggling against the BJP and is in a position to defeat the BJP in that particular state should be supported by the joint opposition in the state.”
He said that he would stress this formula at the first joint opposition meeting on June 23 in Patna.
Akhilesh cited his party’s earlier alliances with the Congress and Mayawati’s BSP for the state and national elections, claiming the Samajwadi Party had always been an honest and accommodating alliance partner.
“Wherever the SP was in alliance, fighting over seats was unheard of,” he said.
The SP had only won Lok Sabha five seats in 2019 and lost two ( Rampur and Azamgarh) to the BJP in the by-elections. In the 2022 UP assembly polls, when Akhilesh allied with only small regional parties, keeping the big anti-BJP parties out, the party’s tally improved from 47 (of 2017) to 111 in 2022.
Asked whether defeating the BJP on all 80 UP Lok Sabha seats was just a hope or could be a reality, Akhilesh said he had earlier made alliances with the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and other smaller parties. “These alliances were made because there was hope, but another key ingredient that is needed is a big heart, which is something our party has shown,” he said.
On larger plans of opposition unity, he said the conclusion in all his meetings with leaders from other parties was that everyone should rally around parties that were getting votes and were strong in their respective states.
When he was asked about Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati saying (after their alliance ended in 2019) that there was no transfer of votes from his party, Akhilesh said, “Data and arithmetic are there for all to see. The Samajwadi Party supported the Bahujan Samaj Party with honesty and a big heart because we believe in Dr B R Ambedkar’s dream.”
“The result of this was that while no one else could defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they lost the maximum number of seats in Uttar Pradesh,” Akhilesh said.
Akhilesh also stressed on the need for a caste census for social justice.
Maurya’s take
Speaking at the same event after Akhilesh’s turn, UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said: “We had won 73 seats in 2014. We have to take 7 steps more to make it 80. By winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, we have pledged to make Modiji the Prime Minister the third time over. While we are clear that Modiji will be the PM, the opposition is still struggling to find its PM face.”
