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Uttar Pradesh assembly polls: Must support Akhilesh to defeat BJP, says Mamata
Banerjee informed that the TMC will not contest the Uttar Pradesh elections but will field candidates in the state in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
An alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh could have stopped splitting anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) votes in the upcoming assembly polls, Trinamool Congress (TMC) president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday.
“It would have been good if the Congress and Samajwadi Party had fought unitedly. The votes would not have split. We requested but they (Congress) did not listen,” Banerjee said at Kolkata airport on Monday afternoon before leaving for Lucknow.
She will campaign for the SP for two days. “I am campaigning for Akhilesh Yadav. He invited me. I want him to win. He has the organisational set-up. I want BJP to lose,” said Banerjee.
Polling for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The votes will be counted on March 10.
Banerjee informed that the TMC will not contest the Uttar Pradesh elections but will field candidates in the state in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
“In Uttar Pradesh, I am not going to contest assembly polls but I am going to support Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav. We (TMC) will contest from Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” she said, reflecting her national ambitions for the next general elections.
The SP chief welcomed Banerjee upon her arrival at Lucknow airport on Monday evening.
Taking to Twitter, Akhilesh said, “Had defeated (BJP) in Bengal together, now will defeat (them) in UP. It is my promise to Didi, we will win again. Warm welcome and greetings to Didi in UP!”
Earlier in the day, Akhilesh launched a scathing attack against the ruling BJP in the state, saying the Yogi Adityanath-led party “cheats people, makes them fight against each other and its leaders tell lies”. He also asked the party to change its name from “Bhajpa” (the Hindi abbreviation for the BJP) to “Bhajhpa”, adding that the “jh” in its name meant “jhansa” (cheating), “jhagra” (bickering) and “jhooth” (lies).
The bigger the BJP leader, the bigger the lies they tell, Akhilesh alleged. “They indulge in the politics of accusations. The BJP wants to take the elections to somewhere else,” he told reporters referring to the upcoming state polls.
The SP chief also rejected the charges that the money recovered from a Kanpur perfume seller during a raid by the central agencies had any link with his party. “Nothing can be a bigger lie than this. People sitting at high posts are telling lies,” he said, apparently referring to Union home minister Amit Shah, who has repeatedly linked the seized amount with the Yadav’s party.
Akhilesh also said that women were feeling insecure in UP under the BJP rule, alleging that the National Commission for Women has got most complaints from the state. The maximum custodial deaths have taken place in the state, he added. “We have seen how the son of the Union minister of state for home drove a jeep over farmers. The government wants to shield him. The government wants to crush the Constitution as it has crushed the farmers,” Akhilesh said, apparently referring to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Police have arrested Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish for the death of four farmers, who were mowed down by cars, allegedly being driven by BJP workers last year.
Meanwhile, Union minister Smriti Irani hit out at Akhilesh, claiming his reach out to Banerjee, who had “insulted” the people of Uttar Pradesh indicates he is “not getting people’s support on his own strength”.
Addressing a poll programme in Gautam Buddh Nagar’s Jewar, the BJP leader said, “I want to ask Akhilesh ji, what has happened now that you want support of those who had forgotten the glorious past of this state and openly insult the residents of the state. What compulsion do you have?”
(With agency inputs)
