Congress must support regional parties to defeat BJP: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: The Congress will have to support regional parties to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 general elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Saturday, calling for unity among all anti-BJP outfits.

“Several regional parties, giants in their respective states, are strongly fighting against the BJP. All these regional giants fighting against the BJP should come together,” Yadav said. “The Congress should support the respective regional parties in different states. It’s time now that Congress should keep the regional parties in the front and support the regional parties to defeat the BJP.”

Yadav’s comments came a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after being convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

“In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is fighting and struggling against the BJP at all levels. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP will defeat the BJP,” the SP national president said. “All people should support Samajwadi Party to get the UP and the country rid of the BJP.”

“The regional parties are set to play a very big role in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and this will lead to the wiping out of BJP,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said. The SP has responsibly played its role in national politics and will continue to do so, he said in a statement.

Yadav, now the leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, said the BJP was suppressing opposition parties in the country by misusing government institutions. “The way BJP is functioning is known to all and all this will have a far-reaching effect on the country’s politics,” he said.

Yadav drew parallels between Gandhi’s disqualification and similar action against SP legislators in Uttar Pradesh since the BJP came to power in the state in 2017. The state administration lodged false cases against SP MLAs like Azam Khan and got them disqualified from the assembly, he added.

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Yadav had said on Friday that Gandhi’s disqualification was the BJP’s tactic to divert people’s attention from issues like inflation, unemployment and an “industrialist friend” sinking India’s money.

“In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has taken away membership of several Samajwadi Party leaders. Today the membership of Congress’s biggest leader has been taken away. If we look at everything this way, then a lot of BJP members would also be disqualified. If fairly probed, then a lot of BJP members would get disqualified for the kind of language they use and statements they make,” Yadav told reporters in Greater Noida.

“Ever since the BJP has come to power in Uttar Pradesh, it has taken the help of the administration and the government to first lodge false cases and then on several occasions, both the administration and the government have together taken away (assembly) membership of SP leaders,” he had said. “Azam Khan saab lost his membership, and so did his son Abdullah. Similarly, cases were lodged against sitting MLAs like Irfan Solanki in Kanpur.”

Khan was disqualified in October 2022 after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case. He represented the Rampur Sadar assembly constituency. Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified in February 2023, days after a court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case.

“Congress is relentlessly fighting the BJP in the entire country. Akhilesh Yadav ji is fighting only in UP. Akhilesh Yadav ji should also show a big heart and support Congress. To oust the BJP is not a sole responsibility of Congress”, said Ashok Singh, UP Congress spokesperson.