SP to contest five seats in Gujarat, back Congress in rest

The Samajwadi Party will contest five Assembly seats in Gujarat and will back the Congress in the other seats, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday.

Akhilesh Yadav also told the media that the party had decided not to weaken other strong contenders in the state.

Taking a dig over the delay in the construction of the Metro Rail in Ahmedabad, he said he fulfilled the dream of a Metro Rail in Uttar Pradesh when he led the state.

Felicitating the office bearers of the Allahabad University Students Union, now controlled by the Samajwadi Party's youth wing Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, the 44-year-old said the election victory showed how the young were aligning themselves with his party.

He slammed the BJP for what he called was its negative political slant.

"We made the best and the fastest Expressway in the country but we will never be called nationalists... That is how the BJP perceives its political opponents," he said.

He said that for him and his party, nationalism meant providing basic facilities to the people and unleashing development.

--IANS

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