Even after being openly humiliated by the Congress party, the Samajwadi Party is still optimistic that the I.N.D.I. bloc will agree to choose Akhilesh Yadav to represent them as their candidate for prime minister for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. This was evident by the numerous posters that have emerged in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow showing Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav as the future prime minister of India.
The posters were put up outside the Samajwadi Party headquarters in Lucknow by the party workers.
UP: Posters portraying Akhilesh Yadav as "future PM" put up in Lucknow
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) October 23, 2023
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/2A7eiEJtq4#AkhileshYadav #SamajwadiParty #futurePM #INDIAalliance pic.twitter.com/CmhnIQ3a6f
SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chaand said that while Akhilesh Yadav’s birthday is on July 1, party workers celebrate his birthday multiple times to express their love and respect. “Today, some party leaders and workers are celebrating his birthday and are praying that Akhilesh Yadav becomes the PM of the country and serves the people…” he added.
#WATCH | Lucknow, UP: On posters of Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav symbolising him as the 'Future PM' outside the Samajwadi Party Office, Party spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chaand says, "Akhilesh Yadav's birthday is on July 1, but to express their love and respect towards… https://t.co/ATyMB71VkS pic.twitter.com/SdoAfu9USi
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) October 23, 2023
The BJP, meanwhile, retorted to the development by asserting that everyone has the right to dream. “There is a saying, ‘Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne’. Nobody can stop anyone from daydreaming. But one should dream as per one’s capability. Under PM Modi’s leadership, our country is going ahead on the path of development. People of the country trust PM Modi and the country will definitely elect PM Modi as the PM for the third time,” said BJP leader and Minister in the UP Government Danish Azad Ansari.
Akhilesh Yadav warns about the future of alliance after Congress’ refusal to share seats with SP in MP polls
The posters have come at a time when the rift between the Congress party and Samajwadi Party, the two most important members of the I.N.D.I. bloc, an unholy nexus of 28 political parties formed solely with the aim to defeat the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, is at its peak, with Akhilesh Yadav warning about the future of alliance after Congress’ refusal to share seats with them in Madhya Pradesh polls.
Akhilesh Yadav, the head of the Samajwadi Party and a key figure in the I.N.D.I. alliance, recently said that he would not have gone to any meetings if he had known that there was no state-level cooperation between his party and the Congress. The rage surfaced after his party was utterly disregarded in the impending Madhya Pradesh assembly election, which is set to take place next month. Never mind the promised six seats, the Samajwadi Party was not even assigned a single seat, leaving Akhilesh Yadav belittled and infuriated.
He noted, “A former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh asked us about our performance in the state. We told him how many seats we had won and when as well as in which seats we stood at number two. We had a comprehensive discussion. They woke up Samajwadi Party leaders even at 1 a.m. They assured us six seats. However, when the lists were announced, there were zero seats for the Samajwadi Party.”
Angered by the betrayal by the Congress party, the Samajwadi Party announced to contest the elections on its own and has fielded its candidates in as many as 31 seats.
The two parties have been in strife for the past few days, particularly since Ajay Rai, the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress requested the Samajwadi Party to withdraw from Madhya Pradesh as it “did not have a base” there. He claimed that the battle had always been between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party. He added insult to injury and pointed out that the party won only one seat in 2018 and that its sole MLA in the state assembly had later switched to the latter.
Rift within I.N.D.I. Alliance
Not only Congress and Samajwadi Party but several other members of the I.N.D.I. alliance have been at loggerheads since they forged a united front with the sole aim of defeating BJP in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Both in Delhi and Punjab, the Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party are at odds with one another. Their leaders frequently engage in personal attacks on one another.
In West Bengal, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress are at odds, with WB CM Mamata Banerjee, a significant alliance proponent, accusing the Bengal Congress of being too lenient towards the BJP.
Nitish Kumar, another key player in the alliance, also seems unhappy with the arrangement, as he reportedly feels that he has not been given a significant role.
Another setback for the I.N.D.I alliance came when the CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri emphatically dismissed any coalition with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. The left parties declared their intention to take on both the TMC and the BJP. This emphasized the bitter ideological struggle and ongoing conflict between the left and TMC in Bengal, making any potential alliance implausible.
Given the level of hostility and animosity the so-called allies have for one another, it is improbable that the I.N.D.I Alliance can come up with a viable challenge to the current ruling dispensation.
