Congress is helping BSP: Akhilesh

The Congress is trying to disrupt the Samajwadi Party (SP) attempts to defeat the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh, said SP leader Akhilesh Yadav. Member of Parliament and son of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh is the star campaigner for the SP that is trying to return to power after a break of five years.

The Congress is trying to disrupt the Samajwadi Party (SP) attempts to defeat the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh, said SP leader Akhilesh Yadav. Member of Parliament and son of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh is the star campaigner for the SP that is trying to return to power after a break of five years.

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Akhilesh's comment comes in the wake of heightened Congress onslaught, spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi, against the SP. Gandhi has set the UP polls as a key milestone in his efforts to the get his party return to power at the Centre on its own. Congress is targeting BSP but simultaneously also the SP, saying one cannot replace the other. The Centre's decision of carving out a separate reservation for minorities within the 27% quota for OBCs is a move that aims to divide the OBC-Muslim social coalition that has been SP's base. "This is move to fool the Muslims, but they cannot be," said Akhilesh.

Akhilesh said such measures are all indicative of an "understanding between the BSP and the Congress." "Without the environmental clearance from the Centre, Mayawati could not have made the marble park in Noida. Who gave clearances for the F-1 race in Noida, on tracks built on land taken over from farmers? How many Congress protests had taken place in UP in the last four years? When the farmers of the state were shortchanged by the regime and police harassed political opponents, only SP has fought the Mayawati regime," he said.

Dismissing the Congress campaign in UP, Akhilesh said: "I see leaders on TV, but no crowd on the ground." He said if the crowd that has thronged his rallies are converted into votes, "no forces on earth can stop the SP from winning a simple majority." "The Congress campaign is only meant to divert the support that we get. It is helping the BSP," he said.