Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday expressed apprehension of misuse of power by the Bharatiya Janata Party government, which, he said, was issuing ‘red cards’ against his party leaders and workers.
Akhilesh Yadav is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Azamgarh constituency which goes to poll in the sixth phase on Sunday. He is pitted against Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua who is contesting the election on the ticket of Bharatiya Janata Party. There is a direct fight between the two.
Akhilesh Yadav said in a statement issued here on Saturday that the BJP was trying to win the election in Azamgarh through “red cards”.
“The officers of the district administration have been directed to issue as many red cards as possible to the Samajwadi Party workers in Azamgarh to prevent them from keeping an eye on polling at polling booths on Sunday,” the SP chief alleged.
Yadav alleged that the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party workers were also being prevented from carrying out the normal election work on the eve of polling.
“The BJP government adopted the same tactics in Kannauj where Dimple Yadav is the SP candidate and we took up the matter with the Election Commission and filed a complaint. We have filed complaint in connection with Azamgarh,” the SP chief said and asked why red cards were being issued only to the leaders and the cadre of the SP and BSP and not of the BJP.
The SP chief further alleged that a large number of BJP leaders with criminal background were camping in Azamgarh to scare the SP-BSP alliance supporters and prevent them from casting their vote.
During polling in Kannauj, several SP leaders and workers were issued red cards by the district administration and placed under house arrest on the day of polling.
Akhilesh Yadav accused the prime minister and the BJP of pursuing caste politics and politics of spreading hatred among different castes and religions. “Their government is based on lies and hatred. The gathbandhan has decided to dethrone the government formed on hatred,” he said.
The SP chief claimed that in phase six of the Lok Sabha election, the BJP and the Congress would not win any seat while in the last phase, they could win a few seats but the BJP would get only one seat.
Meanwhile, a dispute broke out between the SP and the Azamgarh district authorities before the end of the campaigning when SP cancelled all the four election meetings of Akhilesh Yadav in the constituency alleging conspiracy by the authorities.
