Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav blamed his `near and dear ones’ for the ignominious defeat that the party suffered in the just concluded Assembly poll. Yadav asked party workers to get ready and hit the road to expose anti-people policies of the present BJP government.
At a meeting of SP district and city chiefs, a demand was also made that the next general elections should be held using ballot papers instead of EVMs.
“Do not feel disheartened about the Assembly poll results. We lost because of some `near and dear ones’ betrayed us at the last minute. Apno ne hummey dhokha diya. But we have learnt our lessonss and will do our best to spring back,” Yadav said.
He did not name anyone and did not elaborate as what he meant by `apne’ but Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav stayed away from the meeting which was also dubbed as the State Executive meeting.
This was the first meeting of the party after Mulayam Singh and Shivpal Singh Yadav criticised Akhilesh for betraying his father. last week at a function in Mainpuri, Mulayam went on record saying, “Jo apne baap ka nahi hua, who party aur janta ka kya hoga.”
Hitting out at the BJP, Akhilesh said that the party came to power riding on money power. “BJP leaders spread lies and betrayed the faith of people. During the elections, the BJP had made law and order an election issue. But the crime rate is still very high. Incidents of rape and murder are on the upswing and this government has failed to check crime,” Akhilesh alleged.
Yadav also asked party workers to get ready to hit the road. “We will expose the lies of BJP government. We have shown time and again that Samajwadis do not tolerate injustice with the people. We have staged protests during Mayawati regime and will do the same in Yogi raaj,” he said.
Some party leaders however said that the Samajwadi Party lost because some senior leaders opposed official candidateswhich sent a wrong message among the voters and resulted in an ignominous defeat of the party.
Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said that party leaders demanded that the next election be held using the ballot papers. “The SP leaders and people have lost confidence on EVM machines,” he said.