Ahead of UP polls, Akhilesh Yadav ropes in yet another caste based outfit

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday shared stage with Janvadi Socialist Party (JSP), a caste based outfit representing the 'Chauhan' community (OBCs) and asked the members of the backward castes to 'unite' and 'oust' the BJP from power.

Akhilesh also slammed the Central government for launching new airports in the state saying that the real objective behind it was to 'sell' them to the private players.

''SP has allied with Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party and Krishna Patel of Apna Dal.....now the Chauhan community is also with us....none can defeat an alliance of so many parties,'' he said.

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''The BJP government has betrayed the people.....the farmers, in particular, are facing a lot of problems under the BJP regime....they are not getting fertilisers....the cane arrears have not yet been cleared,'' he added.

Addressing the meeting, the president of the JSP Sanjay Chauhan, said that his community had made up its mind to oppose the BJP in the forthcoming assembly polls. ''We must teach the BJP a lesson....it does not want our community to prosper,'' Chauhan said.

The 'Chauhan' community had a sizeable presence in around a dozen assembly constituencies in the eastern UP districts.

Akhilesh has been reaching out to the smaller caste based parties for electoral alliance in the forthcoming assembly elections, which are barely three months away. The SP was also in talks with Mahan Dal, which represented the 'Maurya' and 'Saini' communities.

Meanwhile in yet another significant development, independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya on Thursday met SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and was closeted with him for about half an hour. Later speaking to the reporters Raja Bhaiya said that it was a courtesy call. Sources however said that the two leaders discussed the possibility of allying in the next assembly polls.

Raja Bhaiya, who wields considerable influence over the influential 'Thakur' community in some districts in the eastern UP region, had indicated in the past that he had no problem in allying with the SP.