E-Paper
Akhilesh Yadav dares BJP government to do demonetisation again and win polls
Speaking at the Hindustan Shikhar Samagam in Lucknow, Akhilesh said it was time for a fresh debate on demonetisation
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday dared the Narendra Modi government to do demonetisation again and win the upcoming elections, as he claimed that India will have a new prime minister in 2019.
Speaking at the Hindustan Shikhar Samagam in Lucknow, Akhilesh said it was time for a fresh debate on demonetisation.
“When he executed it, there was no debate. It was all unilateral, but now the consequences are out. If BJP had won the 2017 UP polls calling demonetisation a success, they should do demonetisation once again and win the forthcoming state elections and the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Dropping hints of forming a broad alliance (Mahagathbandan) in Uttar Pradesh, the state’s former CM said BJP should name its new PM candidate, then they would also announce their choice.
On Samajwadi Party’s proposed alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Akhilesh said, “These days, the entire country is asking about her well being. Anyone with whom the SP stands ought to be fine.”
He gave more hints in this regard when he was asked about his prime ministerial ambitions.
“My dreams are small; I am a realist. I dream to make more expressways, connect parts of UP with better roads, build more infrastructure in the state and develop UP after 2022,” he said, suggesting that his interests remained in being the UP CM.
But the SP chief did not make it clear if the Congress was going to be part of the alliance.
“In 2019, it is the SP’s task to reduce BJP to five seats in UP, the BSP’s task to reduce the ruling party to zero, the Congress should aim to cut the BJP down to two seats, and we have a new friend in RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal),” he said.
Asked about UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s statement earlier in the day at the ‘Samagam’ that BJP had embarked on ‘Mission 74, aiming to win one seat more than its UP tally in 2014, Akhilesh clarified: “They have got their arithmetic all wrong. They had won 73 in 2014, but we have reduced them by three seats, winning Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana (in by-polls).”
“We will not tell our strategy. Why should we? But this is what we and the voters will do to the BJP in 2019. The BJP’s countdown has begun,” he said.
The BJP had bagged 71 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2014 and its ally the Apna Dal had won two.
Akhilesh tried to evade questions on the family feud and about his uncle Shivpal Yadav announcing that his Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM) will contest all 80 seats in UP in 2019, but finally said: “Isn’t that nice that in our home, we have open democracy? There will be many such political missiles fired at us as the polls approach, but I am not going to let my focus waver.”
‘SP never built separate lanes for Yadavs on Expressways’
When asked about caste equations in the alliance, Akhilesh said: “We are using BJP’s formula. They are an alliance of 47 parties. We are only a few at the moment, but there will be many more. They have made me realise my power. They made me realise that I am a backward. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath got the CM’s house washed with Gangajal after I vacated it. It is the BJP that began casteist politics, The SP never did it. I cannot make out if there is a separate lane for Yadavs on the expressway that we built or only Yadavs were given laptops. Our government worked for all and I hope that now the people will vote looking at the works done by the governments.”
He also said: “But I am a progressive backward, a forward-looking backward, and a liberal backward.”
