SP to contest all 70 assembly seats in Uttaranchal

Haridwar, Sept 28: The Samajwadi Party will contest all the 70 seats in the forthcoming state assembly elections due to be held early next year, state unit chief Ambrish Kumar today said.

Interacting with mediapersons at a 'Meet the Press' programme organised by the district Press Club, Mr Kumar asserted that the party would emerge as a political force to reckon with after the elections.

''We do not claim that will form the government on our own, but will definitely be in a position that no party will be able to do so without us,'' he said, but ruled out any possibility of forming a ''Third Front'' or any prepoll alliance.

Predicting a hung assembly, he said that they would support a ''secular party'' in forming the government.

Criticising the N D Tiwari-led regime, Mr Kumar alleged that the benefits of the ''much-hyped'' development have not percolated down to the common men. Flaying the ''anti-people policies'' of the BJP, he quipped that the party was ''busy reciting Vande Matram and totally unconcerned with the real issues confronting the people.'' The SP leader also said that his party would continue its struggle to detach Haridwar district from Uttaranchal and reunite it with the parent state of Uttar Pradesh, adding this would be an important election plank in the coming elections.

''The people of the plains are being discriminated against in Uttaranchal,'' he alleged.

UNI