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Updated December 4th, 2021 at 10:35 IST

Akhilesh Yadav takes jibe at ex-ally Congress; predicts 'Won't win a single seat'

Taking a potshot at ex-ally Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday, claimed that the grand old party will not even be able to open its account

Akhilesh Yadav
IMAGE: Twitter/PTI | Image:self
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Taking a potshot at ex-ally Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday, claimed that the grand old party will not even be able to open its account in the upcoming UP polls. Addressing a 'Vijay Rath Yatra' in Jhansi, Yadav dismissed Priyanka Vadra's campaign. The 403-seat UP assembly where Yogi rules with an iron-clad majority of 314 seats, is up for grabs in February 2022.

Akhilesh Yadav takes jibe at Congress

"The public will refuse Congress and they will get 0 seats in the upcoming elections, " said Yadav. Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP, he added, "If Samajwadi Party can build the expressway in 22 months why did BJP take 4.5 years to do the same work? This is because they don’t want to work for the welfare of people in UP".

His statement comes a day after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tore into Yadav's campaign. Contending that the former UP CM became active only at the time of election, she pointed out that Congress workers had gone to jail for raising people's issues in contrast to SP. On this occasion, Vadra accused both SP and BSP of perpetuating the politics of caste and religion when in power.

"Why have Akhilesh (Yadav) and his party become active only during election? Where were they in the last 5 years when Congress was fighting on the streets? Over 18,500 Congress workers were in jail. Our president was in jail for 28 days during the COVID-19 period," said Vadra.

2017 poll drubbing

In 2016, Akhilesh Yadav had faced a massive family feud - with his uncle Shivpal Yadav over who will take over the party's reins from patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. The then-SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had sided with his brother- Shivpal, throwing out then-CM Akhilesh Yadav and his cousin  Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years for releasing a separate list of 235 candidates for the 2017 polls, countering his father's 325 candidate-list. Later, Akhilesh was reinstated, who promptly threw out his uncle and replaced Mulayam Singh Yadav as the party chief. Amid these tumultuous family fights, Yadav stitched an alliance with Congress, which failed miserably, winning only 55 seats, while the BJP won 312 seats - ushering in Yogi Adityanath's maiden term.

2022 campaign

With BJP fighting under the leadership of incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. SP chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav has stated that SP will only ally with smaller political parties for the 2022 Assembly polls, holding talks with Mahan Dal, NCP, SBSP. Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand, while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab. Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return.

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Published December 4th, 2021 at 10:35 IST

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