Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the newly formed Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc would defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2024. Mr. Yadav added that all sections of society in the country were angry with the anti-poor policies of the Union government.
“The country wants change. The INDIA alliance is going to defeat the BJP. The Samajwadi Party and its allies are fully prepared for the elections,” Mr. Yadav said while talking to reporters in Sitapur.
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The SP president alleged that the ruling BJP had been unsuccessful on all fronts and on the parameters of development, with common people fed up with the party’s empty promises, and waiting for the polls to overthrow the regime.
“People are looking for alternative and waiting for the elections to overthrow the BJP as the ruling party. Farmers, youth, labourers and the poor are angry and unhappy with the policies and decisions of the BJP government. The BJP has broken the hopes of the poor. The BJP wants to keep the poor as slaves,” he added.
The SP chief targeted the BJP government for reducing the cost of gas cylinders with an eye on the forthcoming elections, and trying to “deceive the poor masses”.
“The BJP government has no answer to rising inflation, unemployment, and corruption. A gas cylinder worth ₹400 was sold for more than ₹1,100. They looted the people of the entire country. Now, seeing the elections, the price of gas cylinders has been reduced by only ₹200. Inflation in the prices of food items, oil and pulses, including diesel-petrol, is skyrocketing. This government is filling the coffers of the capitalists by cutting the pockets of the middle class and the poor. They are deceiving the poor,” he added.
The SP, the main Opposition party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, is a part of the INDIA alliance, and Mr. Yadav, who participated in the INDIA meetings in Patna and Bengaluru, is scheduled to attend the upcoming August 31 meeting of the alliance in Mumbai.