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With the Samajwadi Party part of Opposition unity talks, its president Akhilesh Yadav said Saturday that the BJP-led NDA will be defeated in next year’s general elections by “PDA”, which he defined as “Pichde (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities)”. “By alpsankhyak, I mean Muslim brothers too,” the SP chief said at the NDTV UP conclave in Lucknow.
Talking about the forthcoming Opposition Unity meeting in Bihar, Akhilesh repeated what other regional parties have been seeking: that parties which are strong in a particular state should be the heart of the Opposition alliance in that state for the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. “I remember a time when leaders of different parties would say that elections should be fought under the leadership of the party that is strong in a state. All those who want to defeat the BJP should have a big heart,” the SP chief said.
“Our formula is 80 harao, BJP hatao (beat them on all 80 LS seats in UP, remove the BJP from power)… The state of UP is the one that brought the BJP to power in 2014. And now, in 2024, it will get rid of the party… We form alliances with a big heart. I hope those parties that want to defeat the BJP will support the SP wholeheartedly. There shouldn’t be any infighting,” Akhilesh added.
He went on to cite his alliances with the Congress in 2017, the BSP in 2019 and smaller parties in 2022, and said all these had been forged “with a big heart”. “And now, all Opposition parties should support us with a similar, big heart.”
Akhilesh said his party was for reservation in private jobs, linking it to how the state looked at development. “The expressways our government built were not just for cities, but also to improve the rural economy. We were building big mandis along the expressways — huge ones, on 100 acres of land — so that farmers could get the right price for their produce. You tell me if this government has built one mandi in six years. Then there are the government organisations — the Backwards and Dalits had put a lot of hope in them, that they will get a government job. But in the last few years, the only jobs that have been generated are contractual, outsourced or private ones. The time has come when, along with a caste census, we should demand reservations in private jobs as well.”
He said the BJP was badly divided. “What you can see in UP at present is a scenario in which every coach (of a train) is thinking it is the engine. For three consecutive terms, the state has only had an ‘officiating’ DGPs,” said Akhilesh.
Akhilesh also admitted that the Opposition needed to start preparing if it wanted to defeat the BJP. “We are in 2023 now, and the elections are in 2024, with only a few months left to go for preparations on the ground. The way the BJP contests elections is that they hire big companies to create an image, and spend money to ruin the image of other leaders. The party is so powerful that it opens up thousands of crores of its budget for ads in newspapers and TV channels… To fight them, we need to prepare our workers from today itself. Hence, our members and leaders are working on the ground, despite the scorching temperatures that are touching 46°C.”
The SP chief also accused the BJP of using unfair means to win elections.
