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Those joining Samajwadi Party from Congress are brave: Akhilesh Yadav
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav says farmers the most distressed, will vote BJP out of power in Uttar Pradesh
Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday described as “brave” the leaders who are joining the SP after quitting the Congress.
He also said “we will make a better temple” when he was asked about BJP’s attack on him for not making any contribution to the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The SP chief did not specify where and what kind of temple would he get built.
He also claimed that farmers have decided to vote the BJP out of power and said that the ruling party was beset by internal differences due to which the “double engine government” at the Centre and in the state were at loggerheads.
The BJP would not win the 2022 UP assembly polls even if it denied tickets to all its sitting MLAs, he predicted at a press conference.
He made the remark about “brave leaders” as Harendra Malik and Pankaj Malik, a politically influential Jat father-son duo from western Uttar Pradesh, joined the Samajwadi Party after resigning from the Congress.
Soon after their resignation from the party last fortnight, the Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had called the Congress leaders going to other parties “kaayar (cowards)”.
Harendra Malik is a former Congress Rajya Sabha member and four-time ex-MLA. His son Pankaj Malik was the Congress MLA from Baghra assembly constituency in Muzaffarnagar. He later represented the Shamli assembly constituency.
Harendra Malik said: “If there is any party that can remove the BJP from power, it’s the SP.”
Pankaj Malik said: “We have to make the SP win and make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister again.”
Addressing a press conference at the SP state headquarters, Akhilesh also said, “If any community is the most distressed, it’s the farmers. And I am happy that farmers have decided to weed the BJP out.”
He accused the BJP government of being responsible for all the deaths due to Covid in the state.
When asked if the Samajwadi Party would reserve tickets for women in the same manner in which the Congress has promised Akhilesh said: “We will give tickets to winnable women candidates”.
On October 19, the Congress had announced that it will reserve 40% tickets for the 2022 UP assembly polls for women contestants.
