BJP-RSS keen on ending reservation: Azam Khan

Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Monday said that his party's electoral alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh aims at bringing an end to the fascist mindset and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are making desperate efforts to end reservation in the country.

Khan told ANI the Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance will benefit the people of Uttar Pradesh as well as both parties.

"It is not just about 2017, but it is about the journey from 2017- 2019 so as to stop the country from going into the fascist track because the BJP and RSS want to remove reservation as Bhagwat ji also advocated it before the Bihar elections and you can see the Bihar election results," he said.

Azam also mocked the BJP manifesto, saying it has not yet been able to fulfill the promises made to the nation during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"All promises proved false and that is why nobody can trust any promise given by the BJP as they have not fulfilled even one promise mentioned in the manifesto," he added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav made a grand show of their new-found chemistry on Sunday, saying they are not just political allies but friends with the mission to defeat "fascist forces" in Uttar Pradesh.

Both leaders shared warm handshakes, tight hugs and even turned up in matching black jackets for a joint press conference, a road show and a rally in Lucknow to showcase the two parties' alliance for the high-voltage assembly elections beginning February 11.

However, the bonhomie suffered a setback as hours later Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav rejected the alliance and categorically stated that he wouldn't campaign in Uttar Pradesh.