In line with its plan to tie up with small caste based political parties, the Samajwadi Party on Sunday formalised its alliance with Mahan Dal for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav was the chief guest at the Mahan Dal's workers' convention held at the Samajwadi Party office. The SP chief has claimed to win 400 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh assembly in the next year’s polls.
Mahan Dal was launched in 2008 by Keshav Dev Maurya and it is perceived to have an impact in Rohilkhand and Western UP regions. Mahan Dal claims to have the support of a range of Other Backward Classes such as Mauryas, Shakyas, Kushwahas, Sainis and Kambojs. However, it has failed to make electoral inroads so far.
“Mahan Dal and Samajwadi Party together will form the next government. Earlier I used to talk about forming a government with 350 seats but after getting support from Mahan Dal, I am confident of winning 400 seats," claimed Akhilesh Yadav at the SP office during a joint meeting of his party and Mahan Dal.
Referring to the BJP, the SP president said, “If we talk about winning 400 seats, then we are asked questions. But when you talked about a bullet train or about turning Varanasi into Kyoto, we did not ask any questions.”
“If our government is formed in UP, then journalists from Varanasi and Lucknow will be sent to Kyoto, Japan," Yadav announced.
He also said that if the Samajwadi Party government was formed in UP, a probe would be ordered into the deaths due to coronavirus.
“The state government is hiding the actual figures of COVID-19 deaths. If the government is formed, we will also help the families and families of those who died due to coronavirus," he added.
Yadav alleged that with elections around the corner in UP, Dalit backwards were being given “lollipop” by making them ministers.
“The BJP is standing as a wall in the path shown by Babasaheb and Gautam Buddha. There is a fake Maurya in BJP, the real Maurya is Keshav Dev Maurya of the Mahan Dal," he claimed.
Akhilesh Yadav promised that if the SP government was formed in UP, Keshav Dev Maurya would get an important post in the government.
He also questioned why the government was unwilling to conduct a caste census?
“Earlier Congress did not do it. Now BJP is not doing it. We declare that if our government is formed, we will conduct a caste census in UP," he said.
He also alleged that the government was raining lathis on youths seeking reservation in teachers’ recruitment.
"What to say about the language and knowledge of our chief minister? There are no two languages in any Constitution,” he said and accused Yogi Adityanath of using foul language.
“What is the language of the chief minister. What did he say about Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav)? Well we do not want to get into this kind of battle,” he said.
Later, Mahan Dal president Keshav Dev Maurya in his speech alleged that the UP government was looting Babasaheb's dreams as liquor shops remained open during the Covid period while schools were closed. He said the liquor vends were crowded, but there was no threat of pandemic for the government.
