Akhilesh Yadav supporting Rahul Gandhi's comment is condemnable: BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Siddharta Singh on Tuesday reacting to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav soft endorsement of Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's 'khoon ki dalali' remark said that such an endorsement for the sake of alliance and bonhomie is condemnable.

"If during an election, a political party is looking for an alliance with another party, because their stock is low, there is no harm in it and Samajwadi Party's stock in Uttar Pradesh is low and therefore they are looking for an alliance and bonhomie with the Congress party. There is nothing wrong," Singh said.

"But, during that if you trade off the national security and support a statement made by Rahul Gandhi of "khoon ki dalali" (blood dealing), basically insulting the Armed forces and the soldiers fighting in the borders, then it's a compromise and therefore it is condemnable what Akhilesh Yadav has done by not condemning Rahul Gandhi and he is trading off for his bonhomie with Congress and looking at the political expediency," he said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has sparked off political speculation with his soft endorsement of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's 'khoon ki dalali' remark.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Lucknow to celebrate Dusshera today, but there have been reports that Akhilesh Yadav might not be present.

On enquiring whether Akhilesh Yadav will skip the function, Singh replied, "The constitution says that when the Prime Minister is visiting a state, the State Chief Minister should accompany him for the political functions or any other function. Ramleela is a cultural and religious function and therefore the Chief Minister of the state should be present with the Prime Minister and that's what the constitution demands."

Speculation about a possible electoral alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress is not new. Leaders on both sides have been officially denying it. It sparked off with Rahul Gandhi describing Akhilesh as a "good man" in July this year. This bonhomie was also evident during the month-long Kisan Yatra undertaken by Rahul across the state last month. It became clearly evident that more than the Samajwadi Party government, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP which was on Rahul's agenda.