Samajwadi has always stood with farmers' demands, says Akhilesh Yadav

Amid farmers' protest at the borders of Haryana, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav expressed his support saying that his party has always supported farmers as far as their rights and dignity is concerned.

"Samajwadi Party is a party of farmers. We have always stood with their demands as far as their rights and respect is concerned and will continue to do so," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said speaking to reporters at Bahraich on Saturday.

Amid the cancellation of the Uttar Pradesh Police Constable Recruitment examination, Akhilesh alleged that the Yogi Adityanath government has no intention of providing jobs and would have acted strongly as soon as reports of the first 'paper leak' surfaced.

"The government had no intention of providing jobs. If the government's intentions were clear, it would have acted strongly as soon as the first paper was leaked. This would have stopped other papers from leaking...The government was claiming that there would be transparency in the examination. Today it is admitting that due to their failures, the paper got leaked. Their intentions are not clear. They are playing with the future of youths. This is not just about 60 or 50 lakh candidates but the 2.5 crore family members of these candidates who have been betrayed by the BJP," Yadav said.

Speaking about the dissatisfaction expressed by senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid as the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat went to the Samajwadi Party (SP) following the seat-sharing talks with the alliance partners, Yadav pointed out that socialist stalwart Ram Manohar Lohia had won his first election from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency.

"(Ram Manohar) Lohia had won his first election from Farrukhabad. We hope that he will delete his tweet and help the alliance," the SP chief said.

When enquired about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attack on the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in the national capital, SP chief Akhilesh counter questioned asking on the status of BJP's poll promise of doubling farmers' income.

"The Prime Minister should first analyse how he has doubled farmers' income in the last 10 years...If you calculate inflation is so high that the prices of some items have doubled," he said.

Making grave allegations against the BJP, Akhilesh alleged that after this election the Bharatiya Janata Party government may even snatch the voting rights of the citizens.

"This election is a big event. Maybe after this election, the government may even snatch people's right to vote. If you look at neighbouring countries, like China or Russia no voting takes place. In Russia, voting exists only in name. Even their Leader of Opposition died in jail. There are other countries as well where the state of democracy is deplorable. The government is influencing agencies like the Election Commission or the court. They are also pressuring the media. For big people it is CBI, for local news reporters, it is the SHO of the local police station...The fight is big," SP chief said.

The Congress and Samajwadi Party announced a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Apart from its traditional strongholds of Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Congress will also contest Varanasi, Ghaziabad and Kanpur.

The formal announcement of the alliance between the two India bloc parties, under which Congress will contest 17 seats and the Samajwadi Party the remaining 63 seats in the electorally crucial state.

The Congress will contest Rae Bareli, Amethi, Varanasi, Kanpur City, Fatehpur Sikri, Bansgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki and Deoria, said SP state unit chief Naresh Uttam Patel.

Earlier in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP won 62 seats. The BSP, then in alliance with the SP, won 10 seats, and the SP won five seats.