SP supported independent RS candidate to expose BSP-BJP ties: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asserted that his party supported independent nominee Prakash Bajaj for the Rajya Sabha election to expose the understanding between the BJP and BSP

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday asserted that his party supported independent nominee Prakash Bajaj for the Rajya Sabha election to expose the understanding between the BJP and BSP.

Those having socialist leanings decided to support the independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha so that people can come to know that the BJP and BSP are together, Akhilesh Yadav told reporters after an event held to pay tribute to Acharya Narendra Dev on his anniversary.

He alleged that the BJP can enter into an understanding with anyone and those who have an internal understanding need to be exposed.

In a dig at the BJP-led state government, Akhilesh Yadav enquired about the present state of the cleaning of river Gomti, a work started by his government.

He also rued that there has been no expansion of the Lucknow metro project which his government had started.

In a major twist to the biennial Rajya Sabha elections, Prakash Bajaj had filed his nomination papers from Varanasi as an independent candidate on the last day for the filing with the Samajwadi Party's support.

He had filed them minutes before the closing of the filing on Tuesday.

His nomination, however, was rejected during the scrutiny of papers the next day after a daylong drama in which seven BSP MLAs, including the four who had signed the nomination of their party candidate Ramji Gautam, gave an affidavit that their signatures had been forged.

The seven MLAs, who are said to have met SP president Akhilesh Yadav, were later suspended by BSP president Mayawati who also declared that her party would vote for any other political outfit, including the Bharatiya Janata Party to ensure the defeat of the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming elections to the Upper House of the Uttar Pradesh assembly and the Rajya Sabha.

She had also termed her decision to join hands with the Samajwadi Party ahead of the last year's general elections a mistake, lamenting that she should not have withdrawn a 1995 case against Akhilesh's father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Speaking after paying floral tributes to Acharya Narendra Dev, Akhilesh Yadav also said there was a need to deliberate on how to restore economic growth amid the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.

The big question is how are we going to achieve prosperity, he said lamenting that despite great men showing the path, the governments have not followed it resulting in severe problems.

We resolve every year to serve the society and country through the path shown by Acharya Narendra Dev. We also pay our respect to Sardar Patel and Maharshi Valmiki on their anniversary today, he said.

It is an important day. We are passing through one of the most difficult days. People have lost their jobs and farmers are not getting the right price of their produce, he added.