We will contest in alliance with Mayawati; defeat BJP in 2019: Akhilesh

The people of UP, and of this country, know that the BJP can surpass any limit with their lies, and utilise institutions and people to undermine democracy, says Akhilesh Yadav

After his chastening defeat in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav believes the coalition he and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati are building will be capable of giving the Bharatiya Janata Party a run for its money in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In an exclusive interview with The Wire, he discusses the recent setback in the elections for the Rajya Sabha, the failure of the Modi and Adityanath governments to deliver on their promises, the law and order situation in the state, the BJP’s use of communal polarisation and the need to think afresh