Akhilesh critical of both BJP, Congress; Asks who started misuse of central agencies in first place

New Delhi, May 2: Like his ally Mayawati, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav came down heavily on both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, saying there is no difference between the two. Yadav, in fact, opined that Congress' actions and remarks would benefit the BJP.

Yadav's remarks come a day after Bhaujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati trained gun at both the national parties and accused the BJP of misleading the people with 'jumlas', while slamming the Congress for insulting Dr B R Ambedkar.

Akhilesh Yadav, in an interview to news agency ANI, hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for saying that SP and BSP were controlled by the BJP. He minced no words in saying that the way the BJP is allegedly misusing the central agencies was something started by the Congress during their rule.

"No one controls us. We are political parties. It is the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in UP that is poised to give a setback to the ruling party. Our alliance will stop the bad policies of BJP," he said.

"There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. Congress wants to benefit the BJP. Who taught the central agencies to intimidate Opposition leaders?..BJP has learnt to misuse the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress', he added.

Akhilesh said his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SP patriach, is not in the prime ministership race, adding that SP-BSP alliance wants to be in a position where it would have a significant say in the next government.

"Our alliance wants to give India a new Prime Minister. Party will decide about the Prime Minister when final seat tally is out. It will be good if Netaji gets the honour (to be PM) but I feel he is probably not in prime ministerial race," he told ANI.

Asserting that the BJP had failed of the national security front, Akhilesh said, "Our soldiers are dying on the border and in the Naxal affected areas. BJP talks about soldiers. What type of national security is it when one soldier dies every day."

Reacting to Priyanka Gandhi's remark that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into BJP's vote share, Akhilesh said, "I do not believe that Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them."

Exuding confidence that the alliance would bag the maximum number of seats in the state where 80 seats are at stake, Yadav said: "It is one of the reasons that the BJP leaders do not talk about development in their rallies and seek to divert the people's attention."

Mayawati on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on both the BJP and the Congress, saying that while the saffron party banked on its 'jumlas' (false promises), the grand old party had insulted Dr BR Ambedkar. Mayawati has been attacking both the national parties in her election rallies. The BSP chief yesterday said both the Congress and the BJP failed to fulfil promises made to the people. Last week, she accused both the BJP and the Congress of "corruption" in defence deals, and of misusing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to "drag" Opposition parties into false cases.