We have the strategy to defeat BJP in ‘VIP’ seats: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party (SP) national President Akhilesh Yadav has said the INDIA bloc has made a strategy to defeat the BJP on its "VIP" Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

He said that his party will declare candidates for these seats during the auspicious period of ‘Navratri’ (beginning in mid-October).

He made the remark while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of a book release event in Lucknow. He was responding to questions about reports on the BJP’s purported plan to defeat the SP in its VIP constituencies.

Though Akhilesh did not clarify what he meant by the BJP’s VIP seats, an SP leader preferring not to be named said, “He meant the seats such as PM Modi’s Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s Lucknow, or the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in Yogi Adityanath’s home district.”

Yadav also said, “BJP’s exit from the Centre is certain during the parliamentary polls which will be a changemaker. The Centre will have an INDIA bloc government. The backwards and Dalits together were instrumental in bringing the BJP government to the Centre, the NDA (the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance) will stand nowhere if the backwards and Dalits abandon the BJP. The backwards and the Dalits will go with the SP now. The party which gets the support of weaker sections will win.”

On his demand for caste census, Akhilesh said, “The caste system that came in India about 5,000 years ago had divided the society. Many eminent social reformers fought the caste system. The caste system will dissolve once economic prosperity comes to various sections of society.”

He further said he wanted the SP and the Congress to join hands to defeat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.