Lok Sabha elections 2019: Akhilesh Yadav inducts 2 more into UP Oppn alliance, says will squeeze BJP presence

Akhilesh Yadav said “these two leaders had helped whenever Samajwadi Party needed them and strengthened the socialist movement” but declined to go public with the arrangement.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday expanded the Opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh by announcing a tie-up with two more parties, the Janwadi Party (Socialist) and the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (Nishad) Party, for the national elections that begin from April 11.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav addressed a joint press conference along with Nishad Party president Sanjay Nishad, at SP office in Lucknow. (PTI photo)

The SP earlier joined hands with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in the state, which has the most number of Lok Sabha seats (80).

“I congratulate the two parties for joining the alliance,” SP chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav said at press conference along with Nishad Party founder Sanjay Nishad and Sanjay Singh Chauhan, the chief of Janwadi Party (Socialist). “These two leaders [Sanjay Nishad and Chauhan] helped us whenever we needed them,” Yadav said.

In the last year’s Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll, Sanjay Nishad’s son, Praveen Kumar Nishad, contested on an SP ticket and wrested the seat from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after 30 years. “This time, I will leave it to Akhilesh Yadav to decide the role that my party will play,” Sanjay Nishad said. Chauhan said that the BJP was “conspiring” to take away the rights of backward classes. “All backwards are with Akhilesh’s alliance,” he said.

The BJP maintained that the alliance won’t hurt its prospects. “All can join hands but it won’t matter. Modi’s tsunami will sweep them away,” BJP spokesperson Navin Srivastava said.