PDA Formula Can Defeat NDA in 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, Says Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said the BJP-led NDA will be defeated in the next year's general elections by "PDA", which he defined as a "Pichde (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities)".

At NDTV Conclave in Lucknow, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, "The BJP will be defeated in all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh if bigger national parties back us."

Yadav asserted that he has always maintained that seat distribution should be decided considering which alliance partner is the strongest in a particular state.

When asked about his view on efforts being made to stitch a grand united opposition, the Samajwadi Party chief said that his only slogan is, "Assi harao, BJP hatao (defeat 80, remove BJP)." Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats.

The SP had only won five in 2019 and lost two of them -- Rampur and Azamgarh -- to the BJP in the by-elections. Talking about his party's alliance with Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party in the 2017 assembly and 2019 general election respectively, Yadav asserted that the Samajawadi Party has always been an honest and accommodating alliance partner.

"Wherever the Samajwadi Party has been in alliance, you wouldn't hear of us fighting over seats," he said.

Yadav also hit out at the BJP government in the state and alleged that it has failed to bring development while the law-and-order situation has deteriorated.