The Samajwadi party has said it will contest the by election to the two lok Sabha seats Gorakhpur and Phoolpur on its own and will not enter into alliance with any other party. SP had contested the 2017 state assembly election in alliance with the Congress.
Senior Samajwadi party leader and the leader of opposition in UP assembly Ram Govind Chowdhary said in Gorakhpur on Sunday that ``Samajwadi party will not have any truck with any party and go to the polls on its own’’. He said the people of the state were disillusioned with the Yogi Adityanath government as it has failed to deliver on all the fronts. He said the Yogi Adityanath government is presenting the development works done by the previous Samajwadi party government as its achievement.
``Deep resentment prevails among all sections of the society particularly the farmers, traders and jobless youth over the non performance of the BJP government in UP and its ideal situation for the Samajwadi Party to contest the election on its strength’’, said Ram Govind Chowdhary.
``The BJP during the 2017 state assembly elections had made tall promise to the people of the state. Far from delivering on any front Yogi Adityanath government has failed even in controlling the law and order in the state. People were also no longer interested in the rhetoric of the prime minister Narendra Modi as he too had made big promises to the people during the 2014 lok Sabha elections’’, said the SP leader.
After the recent poll debacle of the BJP in Rajasthan where it lost two lok Sabha seats and one assembly seat to the congress, all eyes will be on the by elections to the two lok Sabha seats in UP. The ruling BJP will try to repeat its 2017 UP Assembly polls performance in which the party and its allies stormed to power bagging 325 out of the 403 seats in the Assembly.
While the BJP will try to retain both seats, the opposition will seek to wrest both seats from the ruling party. Both the lok Sabha constituencies of Gorakhpur and Phulpur fell vacant following the election of the sitting MPs Yogi Adityanath ( chief minister) and Keshav Prasad Maurya ( deputy chief minister) respectively as members of UP’s legislative Council in September last year.
Exuding confidence that the saffron party will emerge victorious on both seats, the state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “BJP is a party, which is always ready for elections. We are a cadre-based party. I am confident that the party will improve its winning margin.
“As far as the opposition crying foul over the use of EVMs, all I can say is that holding EVMs responsible for electoral loss simply shows the immaturity of opposition parties. The days of casteist-communal politics practised by the opposition parties are over. The public wants development,” he said.