SP claims landslide victory
LUCKNOW: The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday claimed it had won a landslide victory in the panchayat polls and that the party’s performance in the recently concluded rural elections was a clear-cut indication of its prospects in the 2017 assembly polls.
“The people have given their verdict: which is we are going to form the government again in the state,” said PWD and irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav here during an interaction with journalists. The SP, he said, had got a lion’s share in the recently concluded polls and its political rivals had been decimated at the hustings.
He tried to tide over the losses suffered by the kin of some ministers in the panchayat polls as proof that elections were conducted in a free and fair manner. “Our party has won more than 80% seats in the district and regional panchayat polls. We can now say with confidence that the party would again form government in 2017 and the fascist forces would be defeated,” Shivpal said.
In an obvious attempt to play down BSP’s performance in the polls, the minister said that its main rival in the assembly elections would be the BJP and not the BSP. “Their party chief (referring to Mayawati) barely stays here. She comes and leaves like a tourist,” he quipped. He dismissed the victory of Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e- Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate in Azamgarh too in the similar vein. “The AIMIM has no base here. The party knows this. But if you people say so (pointing towards journalists) we may take their winning candidates into our party fold,” he asked.
When asked about an increasing number of intellectuals, returning their awards to protest against “growing intolerance,” Yadav said, ‘fascist forces’ had vitiated the atmosphere.