BJP leaders issuing absurd statements after by-poll defeat: Akhilesh

Alleging that the ruling BJP was unable to digest its defeat in the Uttar Pradesh by-polls, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav today said leaders of the saffron party had resorted to issuing absurd statements after the poll reversal.

Referring to state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey's statement that the unethical politics of fatwa and casteism temporarily overpowered the politics of development, Yadav was quoted in a party release as saying that rejecting the people's mandate had become the norm in the ruling party.

"First the BJP tried to influence the impartiality of elections and now after the results have gone in favour of the opposition parties, they have started issuing absurd statements," he said, adding they tried their best to disturb peace in the western region this time and in doing so their arithmetic went haywire.

"Now the BJP leadership needs to learn how to respect public sentiment but it seems that they have no faith in democratic values and the Constitution," Akhilesh said.

The SP chief asked the BJP to also learn to deal with defeat or else they will not be able to face the outcome of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP state unit chief had yesterday said, "Politics of fatwa, casteism, and politics devoid of any principles temporarily overpowered politics of development. Though the local equations were challenging, we defeated the so-called gathbandhan candidate (RLD's Tabassum Hasan the joint candidate in Kairana) in two of the assembly segments.