INDIA WILL HAVE A NEW PM WHO WILL BE FROM UP, SAYS AKHILESH
Claims people want to see change as they are unhappy with the central government’s policies like demonetisation, GST and unemployment
BHOPAL: India would get a new prime minister (after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections) and that person would be from Uttar Pradesh, said Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav here at a meet the press on Thursday.
Asked if he was ruling out the chances of other leaders who are not from Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh said these leaders were welcome to come to Uttar Pradesh.
He made these comments while answering a question, “who he would back as prime minister between Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati?”
Yadav said, “People want to see change as they are unhappy with policies and decisions of the central government-- demonetization, unemployment, GST are some of the policies that had angered the people.”
Yadav argued that if Narendra Modi can become the prime minister heading an alliance of 47 political parties, there was no reason for the Mahagatbandhan to take shape at the central level. “The Samajwadi Party has taken the initiative and we are vigorously pursuing it.”
On the question of having an alliance with the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party in Madhya Pradesh, Yadav said, “We are having talks with several parties and I have a lot of respect for State Congress president Kamal Nath. However, I cannot share what we discussed.” There is talk of a possible alliance between the Congress, SP and the BSP in the state and even Kamal Nath has admitted that they were in talks with several parties over possible alliance for the assembly election slated in November this year.
Talking about the benefits of
alliance between these three parties, Yadav said, “Congress won by-elections in Ater in Bhind district and Chitrakoot in Satna district, thanks to the support it received from the SP.”
He said the SP had carried out an assessment of all the 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh with the help
of 51 observers and spotted the areas in which they were strong. Yadav criticized the BJP led state government for its failure to tackle farm distress as a result of which farmers were committing suicide and also for the state’s poor record in giving protection to women. Reacting to Yadav’s statement that there will be new prime minister and he will be from Uttar Pradesh, BJP state spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said, “Akhilesh Yadav is right on one count, the prime minister will be from Uttar Pradesh. Modiji will win from Varanasi with a bigger majority and NDA will again come to power.”
Veteran journalist and political analyst Lajja Shankar Hardeniya was critical of Yadav remarks, “It smacks of regional arrogance. There is nothing on the ground, no seat sharing, no common manifesto and he is talking about who will be the prime minister. Such talk was also against the spirit of coalition government.”