Samajwadi Party, allies may cross 400 mark in UP election 2022: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow, Jan 09: Even as the political strategists are projecting the BJP to come to power again in Uttar Pradesh with reduced seats, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that along with allies, SP may cross 400 seats in the upcoming UP assembly polls.

Speaking at the News18 Agenda Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh said "we may cross 400 seats with our allies. People of the state may give the SP and allies more than 400 seats. People are fed up with the BJP. The first phase is of farmers' self-respect and they will wipe out the BJP for sure."

The SP has emerged as the major contender to power, and the Congress is under pressure to come up with better numbers, now that the campaign is under the direct charge of general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The state will vote on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7. The BJP had registered a landslide victory in 2017 assembly polls winning 312 seats on its own, and 325 if the those won by the allies are also counted.

Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party was a distant second then at 49. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party won 19 seats. Apna Dal (Sonelal) got nine, two more than the Congress tally.

CM Adityanath has often directed barbs at Akhilesh Yadav that suggest that the SP is counting on the Muslim community. A remark by the SP leader, seemingly equating Pakistan founder Muhammed Ali Jinnah with the likes of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, has also been repeatedly invoked at BJP rallies.

The SP, in turn, has harped on "rising" crime - the BJP disputes this and recalls the "mafia rule" when the SP was in power - and claimed that many of the projects being inaugurated now were begun by its own government.

It has also accused the BJP of misusing the central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate to intimidate opponents.

But more than anything, the SP hopes that its alliances with the smaller parties will make the crucial difference.

Apart from the RLD, Akhilesh Yadav 's main allies are Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) - PSP(L) led by his once-estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Also on his team are the Apna Dal (Krishna Patel faction), Sanjay Chauhan's Janwadi Party (Socialist) and Keshav Dev Maurya's Mahan Dal.

The BJP has tied up with the Apna Dal (Sonelal), and the Nishad Party which represents the group traditionally associated with boatmen and the fisher community. The BSP and the Congress have decided to go solo in these polls.

Most of western Uttar Pradesh will go to polls first on February 10. Elections on 58 seats in 11 districts would be keenly watched as the region witnessed the farmers' active participation against the three agri laws at Delhi borders. Farm leader Rakesh Tikait hails from here.

The BJP made a clean sweep in the region last time, winning 71 of the total 84 assembly seats in western UP. This time, the SP is counting on the alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal to upset the BJP.

Adityanath, now the face of the BJP in these polls, has claimed that the party will be back in power in UP with an "overwhelming majority".

And Akhilesh Yadav's tagline is "March das BJP saaf" (on March 10, BJP will be finished).

with PTI inputs