Assembly results will strengthen INDIA bloc: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav has said the results of the recently concluded Assembly polls in the states would further strengthen INDIA bloc, but has slammed the Congress for the same.

Results of the state elections in five states were unfavourable for anti-BJP parties. The BJP won three and the Congress only one state.

Yadav seems to have adopted a conciliatory tone and has constantly been speaking in favour of the INDIA alliance.

He said, “Results of the recently concluded polls would only strengthen and consolidate the INDIA alliance. And this should worry the BJP. The public has been in a mood to bring in change. There would have been a change of power in a state had the Congress not behaved the way it did there.”

After the polls were announced in five states, there had been substantial bad blood between the SP and the Congress over seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh. The former wanted to contest the MP polls in alliance with the Congress.

However, the Congress leadership in MP went solo.

The Congress had said that the SP had no standing in MP. Countering it, the SP said that the Congress too had no standing in Uttar Pradesh and indicated that it would take a call on seat-sharing in UP accordingly.

The SP contested 69 seats in MP without any alliance and drew a blank, but it badly hurt the Congress’ prospects on five seats there.

Yadav also indicated that his party would lead the alliance in UP and nudged the Congress to adopt the original stance of regional parties -- that in 2024 polls, whichever parties are strong in their states should lead the battle in the respective states while all other constituents of the bloc should extend support.

“In UP, the PDA will defeat the NDA. The double-engine government of the BJP has nothing original to mention in the name of development works,” said the SP chief.

Despite drawing a blank in MP, Yadav said: “The SP will work towards becoming an alternative in the next polls in MP.”

Javed Ali Khan, member from the SP side in INDIA bloc coordination committee, said: “Not only will the INDIA bloc stay, it will also firm up further as more parties want to join it.”