The strain of non-stop campaigning is visible on the face of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. For the last three weeks, he has addressed three to four rallies per day across the State and the better part of the night is spent in giving shape to the party’s election strategy for the region. He has only one goal in mind, i.e., the Samajwadi Party should sweep Uttar Pradesh in these general elections.
“Polling so far has proved that Samajwadi Party would do very well in Uttar Pradesh. Our success here means that the Third Front would form the next Government at the Centre. The Congress should have a big heart and support such a formulation,” Yadav told The Pioneer. “The Congress should support this Third Front to stop the march of communal Bharatiya Janata Party,” Yadav, who is also State president of the party, said.
Reminding the Congress that it did not have options since the people were bound to reject it along with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Akhilesh Yadav said regional parties were doing well in their respective States and they would join hands to form a Third Front.
“There are many permutations and combinations being worked out by political parties in case the BJP-led NDA falls short of the magic number of 272. They are debating on the contours of the Third Front and who would join this conglomeration. No matter who the members of this Third Front are, one thing is clear, the Congress’ support is mandatory for its survival,” he stressed.
Akhilesh’s overture to the Congress in the middle of the election campaign is seen as an interesting development that followed the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s open declaration that the Congress could support a Third Front-led Government if the NDA failed to get majority. “Two meetings have been held among the constituents of the Third Front. Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) had attended those meetings. It is clear that the constituent which wins the maximum number of seats will have the say in selecting the Prime Minister,” he said.
While he stopped short of saying that since Uttar Pradesh is the largest State that elects 80 MPs, chances of Mulayam Singh Yadav becoming the next Prime Minister are very bright, he claimed that Samajwadi Party was set to sweep Uttar Pradesh.
But what about the Narendra Modi waveIJ
“Where is the waveIJ Three phases of polling are over in Uttar Pradesh and I have not seen the wave. This so-called wave is only in newspapers, news magazines and electronic news channels. On the ground, people are talking about the development work Samajwadi Party has done in the last two years. What we did in this short span of time no party can dream of doing even in five years,” he said.
In fact, Government schemes are the talking point for Akhilesh Yadav at his rallies. He talks about the distribution of laptops among senior students, payment of unemployment allowances to youths, social welfare schemes for the minority community like Hamari Beti, Uska Kal and revival of Kanya Dhan project.
“look people also know that only the Uttar Pradesh Government can deliver the goods. Some people talk about the Gujarat model which is nothing but a farce. So, it is better for the Congress to see the writing on the wall and support the Third Front,” he asserted.