Mayawati, Akhilesh, Ajit denounce BJP, Congress (Roundup)

Addressing their first joint rally in Uttar Pradesh, BSP supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Ajit Singh on Sunday declared war on both the BJP and the Congress saying they were two sides of the same coin.

Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, who shared a common public platform for the first time in years, particularly warned Muslims against supporting the Congress, alleging that the grand old party would only end up splitting anti-BJP votes in the Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking first at the Jamiya Tobbiya Medical College ground, former Chief Minister Mayawati was at her aggressive best as she said that removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone would not do and that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath must also go.

"Our gathbandhan is winning and the BJP is going, provided they don't tamper with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)," Mayawati said, adding that the voters would end the "drama of chowkidari".

Modi had not fulfilled even one fourth of the promises he made in the 2014 Lok Sabha battle that brought him to power, she said.

The Prime Minister had also failed to protect the borders, she added, citing increasing instances of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mayawati did not spare the Congress either, calling its election manifesto 'hawa-hawai'.

Akhilesh Yadav said that both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress pursued the same policies.

"Not a single vote should be divided. Both these parties are same. There is not much difference between them."

Speaking on the alliance, which has emerged as the most potent challenger to the BJP, he said: "This coalition is to provide a new Prime Minister."

Yadav slammed the Congress, saying the party does not want change.

The SP chief raised questions about the promises made by the Modi government in the last Lok Sabha battle and accused the Prime Minister of speaking lies.

"In the last Lok Sabha elections he (Narendra Modi) was a chaiwala and now he is a chowkidar."

Rashtriya Lok Dal's Ajit Singh called the BJP "anti-farmer" and alleged that it had come to power by creating communal tensions.

"The BJP has done nothing in the last five years. Today even the farmers are saying that their crops are being gobbled up by Modi and Yogi. But the situation is changing and the ouster of the BJP is a certainty now."

BSP's Fazlur Rahman is contesting the election from the Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to the polls in the first phase on April 11.

The BJP swept the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, winning a staggering 71 of the 80 seats. An ally won another two. The Congress won two seats and the Samajwadi Party five. The BSP won no seat.

--IANS

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