Azad Samaj Party (ASP) chief Chandrashekhar Azad slammed Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav accusing him of eyeing Dalit vote bank without quite caring for them in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.
Accusing Yadav of insulting the members of “Bahujan Samaj” or Dalit community, Azad said, “Akhilesh Yadav does not want Dalits in this alliance, he just wants Dalit vote bank.”
Taking a dig at Akhilesh, Azad further said that leaders of backward classes, Dalits and others are supporting Yadav with a belief that he will do social justice but Akhilesh Yadav does not understand the meaning of social justice.
“Akhileshji told us a month ago that we will fight the election together. I was here for two days to discuss our joint fight. I wanted to join with Akhileshji to stop the BJP, but he doesn’t want to give representation to the Dalits,” Azad said while interacting with the media.
Sources had earlier claimed that the alliance talks between the SP and ASP are in the final stage and an announcement was likely in a joint press conference by Akhilesh Yadav and Azad. However, there was a deadlock on several issues, including that of promotion of reservation for Dalits and backward classes. While ASP wanted a concrete reservation plan, SP did not agree to it.
The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.
