Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said his party would not forge a new alliance and would go to the 2024 Lok Sabha along with old allies.
The SP chief claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party would be routed in Bihar after the collapse of its alliance with the Janata Dal (United) and formation of a new government there with the support of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Akhilesh Yadav was in Azamgarh on Monday to meet jailed party MLA Ramakant Yadav. This was his first visit to Azamgarh after losing the bypoll to Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat to BJP in June last.
“Ramakant Yadav has been framed in a 20-year-old case. The Yogi Adityanath government intends to keep the MLA in jail till 2024 Lok Sabha election. The BJP will be routed in Bihar and will meet a similar fate in UP during the next Lok Sabha election,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
The SP chief claimed that Ramakant Yadav was a victim of the conspiracy by the BJP-led UP government.
“Ramakant Yadav was granted bail in old cases but he was booked in fresh cases. The BJP is pursuing the politics of vendetta against its political opponents across the country. The BJP has unleashed terror against the opposition party leaders by misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department. Their sole objective is to break the morale of the opposition parties,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
“It is not only in Azamgarh; Samajwadi Party leaders are being targeted across the state and are being framed in fake cases and sent to jail. Their assets are being attached and their commercial establishments and buildings are being demolished without following the due process of law,” SP chief alleged.
Akhilesh Yadav was in Azamgarh, his former Lok Sabha constituency, on Monday, two months after the defeat of the SP candidates in the bypolls to Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats. Both the seats were wrested by the BJP from the SP.
Sources in the SP said that Akhilesh Yadav was concerned about a possible dent in the party’s Yadav vote base in Azamgarh region after his cousin and party candidate Dharmendra Yadav was defeated in the constituency by BJP’s nominee Dinesh Lal Yadav, the Bhojpuri actor-singer popularly known as Nirahua, in a close contest.
It was Akhilesh’s own seat that he vacated after getting elected to the UP Assembly earlier this year. The SP chief’s Azamgarh visit was aimed at ensuring that the party’s core Yadav vote bank remained intact in the Azamgarh belt.
Ramakant Yadav is currently an SP MLA from Phoolpur Pawai in Azamgarh district. He had surrendered before a local court last month in a 24-year-old case of attempted murder. Adding to his woes, the court sent him to judicial custody in connection with a spurious liquor case registered against him in February this year.
Ramakant Yadav, a five-term MLA from Phoolpur Pawai and a four-time MP from Azamgarh, has been a history-sheeter with around two dozen cases against him. The SP has defended Ramakant and accused the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government of “harassing” him.