I DON’T SWITCH FRIENDS EASILY, SAYS AKHILESH

It’s time to strengthen party. Will talk alliances when polls near

LUCKNOW: SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday reiterated that his priority “as of now” was to strengthen the party and that any talk on alliance could be taken up closer to elections, effectively indicating doors were not closed. “Samajwadi Party, especially, I do not change friends. When I do friendships, I do it with a lot of wisdom for I had seen betrayals,” Akhilesh said.

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday reiterated that his priority “as of now” was to strengthen the party and that any talk on alliance could be taken up closer to elections, effectively indicating doors were not closed.

“As of now, the priority is to strengthen the party, do party consolidation work at the ground level, create new voters, firm up the party at booth level. We cannot leave all this basic work waiting for alliances to happen,” he said.

“We have to prepare ourselves for the fight at the ground levels. Can we afford to leave aside all these works waiting for alliances? Alliances will be discussed when polls get near,” he said at a press conference when asked about a possible alliance with the Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Akhilesh Yadav was squarely blamed for his party’s rout in the assembly elections after tying up with the Congress, whose president Rahul Gandhi campaigned in the state extensively along with the Samajwadi Party chief.

“Samajwadi Party, especially, I do not change friends. When I do friendships, I do it with a lot of wisdom for I had seen betrayals,” Akhilesh Yadav said.

Though the Samajwadi Party should never be associated or likened to those parties that do caste and creed politics, “we too will do social engineering. If they do the social engineer, then ours will neutralis theirs,” he said.

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, he said that development has come to a standstill and law and order have worsened.

“The police department is headless for the newly appointed DGP is not joining because it is said that it was not an auspicious time. I thought, that Bharatiya Janata Party doesn’t believe in superstition and the chief minister despite ‘Noida Jinx’ went there to inaugurate the already inaugurated Metro rail.”

› We have to prepare ourselves for the fight at the ground levels. Can we afford to leave aside all these works waiting for alliances? Alliances will be discussed when polls get near

AKHILESH YADAV, SP chief