We drove BJP out of Awadh, time you drive them out of Magadh: Akhilesh Yadav

Patna: Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday gave a clarion call to uproot the BJP from Bihar just like he upstaged the saffron brigade from UP during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“We drove them (the BJP) out of Awadh (UP) during the Lok Sabha elections. It is high time you drive them out of Magadh (Bihar) during the 2025 Assembly elections,” said Akhilesh, who joined Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during the last leg of Voters’ Adhikar Yatra at Saran in Bihar.

Flanked by Rahul and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh took a jibe at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who recently said "Indians have shared the same DNA for 40,000 years.”

“We have always maintained that our fight for social justice is 5000 years old. But we recently came to know that it’s 40,000 years old,” said Akhilesh, with a tinge of sarcasm, in an oblique reference to the RSS chief Bhagwat.

Akhilesh, who besides Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, attended the Voters’ Adhikar Yatra, which began from Sasaram on August 17 and will conclude in Patna on September 1, assured the Mahagatbandhan leader Tejashwi Yadav his all out support.

“It was Tejashwi, who as Deputy CM, started giving employment to the jobless. I assure my all out support to him so that he is at the helm after the Assembly elections are over. His elevation as Bihar Chief Minister will ensure jobless get jobs here, thereby putting an end to migration,” said Akhilesh, recalling how Bihar has been at the forefront in stopping the BJP in its tracks.

Check-mating BJP

“Who can forget that it was Lalu ji who stopped the BJP chariot led by LK Advani and arrested him in 1990,” said Akhilesh, without batting an eyelid how this 1990 episode of check-mating the BJP had soured relationship between the two regional chieftains Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Rahul and other Congress leaders thanked Akhilesh for his support in their fight against vote theft. “All throughout my yatra, I noticed how politically conscious the people of Bihar are. I am sure such agile people will not allow ‘vote theft’ here just as it happened during the Maharashtra Assembly elections last October and ensure the BJP does not return to power through ‘vote chori’ in Bihar,” said Rahul here on Saturday.