BJP frightened by shaping up of Oppn unity: Akhilesh

Taking a jibe at BJP chief Amit Shah's claim that the saffron party will win 73-plus of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2019, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday that Shah is making such statements because he is frightened seeing Opposition unity taking a shape.

"Forget 73-plus, you have just lost three seats in the bye-elections," the former chief minister said.

Hinting that his party has already begun the work for the general elections, Yadav said, "Samajwadi people are ready (for the Lok Sabha elections). We will not disclose our strategy."

The SP chief was distributing laptops to meritorious students at the party headquarters here.

To a question on the possibility of an SP-BSP alliance, he said, "Big interviews about this tie-up are appearing in newspapers. A 'Mahagathbandhan' will be formed. It is there and will stay in the future too."

On August 5, BJP president Amit Shah while addressing a gathering in Chandauli had claimed that the Opposition was "spreading rumour about the impact on the poll equation in UP if SP and BSP come together."

"Even if Bua (BSP chief Mayawati), bhatija (Yadav) and Rahul (Gandhi) join hands, our tally (in Lok Sabha from UP) will be 74 instead of 73 now and not even 72," he had said.

Shah had exuded confidence that BJP and its allies will perform better than 2014 when they wrested 73 of the 80 seats in UP.

In an apparent response, Yadav said today that the people of the state had seen how the BJP had "deceived" the people and how it had "driven a wedge into different communities for (its) political interest, how it triggered hatred among people of different religions."

As the Lok Sabha elections are approaching, the BJP will forget issues like demonetisation, and rake up new issues like defence industrial corridor, Yadav said.

"When ordinary roads are not being made and permissions are not being given for construction of bridges, then how and when such a corridor will be built?" he asked.