Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be “defeated” on all 80 seats in the state of Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, reported news agency ANI. The party had won 5 out of 80 seats in 2019 general elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Yadav accused BJP of “not fulfilling” the promises that were made before the elections. Addressing a press conference here in Kolkata, the SP chief said, “We will defeat BJP on all 80 seats in UP. They do make promises when they need votes. The cost of living and unemployment has increased. They (BJP) have not fulfilled any promise that they made before the elections”.
Earlier in the day, issuing a piece of advice to Congress, Yadav said, “BJP should be defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Congress and several other parties should finalise their role”.
“Congress should decide its role regarding elections. CMs of many states are trying for a coalition that will work together.Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is trying, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin is trying, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are also there. The name will be discussed later for the coalition,” Yadav told ANI.
In 2017 Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, the SP had gotten into an alliance with Congress. However, both the parties fared so badly that they were reduced to a collective 47 seats, a reduction of 177 seats from previous elections. Learning lesson from that disaster, the SP dumped Congress and joined hands with BSP in prepoll alliance in 2019 general elections in UP and contested from 76 out of 80 seats, leaving Rae Bareli and Amethi for the Gandhi family’s Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for Congress. However, Rahul Gandhi lost the family bastion of Amethi in 2019 to BJP’s Smriti Irani.
“For 2024, you may call it the third front or an alliance, but this is not the question. The main issue is inflation. The youth are roaming around without jobs. The farmers’ lives have been destroyed. They (BJP) is showing dreams…but when will the youth get jobs?” he while hinting about the Third Front alliance.
The SP chief was speaking after participating in the party’s two-day national executive meeting in Kolkata.
During the meeting, the party discussed the policies and strategies for the elections in three Hindi states due later this year and the Lok Sabha polls next year, ANI reported. Along with Akhilesh Yadav, party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, MP Jaya Bachchan, state unit chiefs from 20 states, and several other leaders also participated in the meeting.
Notably, the Samajwadi Party’s national executive meeting was held in Kolkata after a gap of 11 years.
