We know formula to defeat BJP: Akhilesh
Akhilesh Yadav launched the UP bypoll campaign, claiming a historic win for the SP-Congress alliance against BJP, focusing on their PDA strategy.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav kicked off the Uttar Pradesh assembly bypoll campaign from Karhal in Mainpuri on Friday, asserting, “We know the formula to defeat the BJP.”

Akhilesh Yadav, whose nephew Tej Pratap Yadav has been fielded from the seat, said, “The result of Karhal is going to be in the favour of Tej Pratap Yadav. We will register a historic win while BJP will have a historic defeat. The strategy by Samajwadi Party and Congress has left Bhartiya Janata Party clueless. We are contesting together and the INDIA bloc will win all the nine seats. Today is the last day of nomination. Those who accused us of being “parivarvadi” have themselves become “rishtedarvadi” now.”
Akhilesh made the remarks while attending a programme at Nathuram Yadav Degree College in Dihuli Barnahal area of Mainpuri. “I wanted Tej Pratap to contest for the parliamentary seat from Kannauj but the political situation was different. The BJP knows that they will never win from Karhal and Milkipur.The BJP knows they are losing Milkipur even after repeated internal surveys. That is why they postponed the byelections there,” the SP chief said.
“The BJP understood the math of Karhal too that they are losing here too, that is why they made our own relative the candidate here. I request people of Karhal to defeat BJP by such a huge margin that they never think of contesting elections from here again,” he added.
The BJP has fielded Anujesh Yadav from Karhal, who is also the relative of Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav. The SP chief alleged that BJP has made a formula to win nine seats by removing BLOs (booth level officers) from the PDA family.
“The INDIA alliance has defeated BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Now we know the formula to defeat the BJP, we have learnt it by sacrificing as much as we can,” he said. Sources in the Samajwadi Party disclosed that they are focusing on the PDA (Pichda Dalit Alpsankhyak) (Backwards, Dalits Minorities) formula for bypolls on nine assembly seats.
The PDA formula worked in favour of the SP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections in which it won 37 parliamentary seats, making it the third largest party in the Lok Sabha. Apart from PDA, the SP will look to highlight the ‘failures’ of the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state. The SP will also convey that it is with the Congress in the bypolls.
Discussions are underway for a possible joint rally of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi or any message from him to stress that the INDIA bloc is together in this fight against the BJP, SP insiders said.
The SP chief will also campaign on seats other than Karhal in the coming days. Samajwadi Party leaders said the failures of BJP will be highlighted, describing it as an integral part of their strategy for the bypolls.

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