SP-Congress joined hands to plunder people of UP: BJP

Continuing to tear apart the recent Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said both had parties joined hands knowing well they won't be able to defeat the latter in the upcoming assembly election, adding that the alliance would plunder the people of state.

"No matter what they do, they can't stop the BJP from winning the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party has taken place as both of them know they won't be able to defeat BJP in the state," said BJP leader Manoj Tiwari.

Tiwari further said that both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party know that they won't be able to stand by the agendas and development of BJP government and hence decided to contest the elections together to plunder the people of the state.

"I don't think there will be any ill effect of this alliance on BJP, rather it would be beneficial for us.," he added.

The Samajwadi Party and Congress on Sunday firmed up an alliance for next month's high-voltage Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls at a joint press briefing.

They vowed to make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister of the politically crucial state yet again while promising to free the state from communal and divisive forces.

The formal announcement of SP- Congress alliance has come after discussions by the two sides over few days before they agreed to 298-105 formula.

Akhilesh Yadav also released the election manifesto for the assembly polls.

The electioneering process in Uttar Pradesh has started gaining momentum with every passing day, as for the first phase of election, for which polling is scheduled on 11th February, a total of 168 candidates filed nominations till 21st January.

In this phase 73 seats are at stake for which nominations can be filed till tomorrow. Whereas for the 67 seats of second phase, the last date of nomination filing is January 27 and only 16 candidates filed their nomination so far.

The poll process in Uttar Pradesh begins on February 11. 73 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh will go polls in this phase. The filing of nominations for these constituencies will end on January 24.

Uttar Pradesh is set to have a seven-phase polling between February 11 and March 8.