After Maya-Akhilesh Hoarding, Pictures of Ambedkar and Lohia Showcased at Samajwadi Party Conference

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s love for Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar is growing more ever since the win of SP candidates in Phulpur and Gorakhpur by-elections with the support of Bahujan Samaj Party. Days after a hoarding showed Akhilesh and BSP supremo Mayawati together outside the Samajwadi Party headquarters in Lucknow, the pictures of Dr Ambedkar and Dr Lohia were showcased in the presence of SP President. Akhilesh was attending an event organised to welcome ex-BSP MLA and few others in the SP’s fold on Saturday.

Later, a press conference was held to announce the joining of former BSP MLA Irshad Khan, MLC Pradeep Singh and Dr Nawal Kishor, who is son-in-law of UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya. The winner of the TV reality show Roadies and Bigg Boss Ashutosh Kaushik also joined Samajwadi Party in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav and other senior leaders.

The programme was organised in the presence of SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav and senior leaders Azam Khan and Ahmad Hasan. Two nicely framed pictures of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar and SP ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia were also showcased on the stage with Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan standing on either side, in an attempt to give out a message of unity and understanding between the two parties.

Akhilesh took a direct dig at the UP CM Yogi Adityanath and said, “The CM is rattled by the recent results of the by-elections and now he has started to talk of development of the state. It feels good when CM talks about development, expressways, Digital India, etc.”

“We want to know that when most of the countries in the world are using ballot papers instead of EVMs then in India why we are not getting rid of EVMs even after so many complaints of EVM malfunctioning? I will again say that if ballots papers were used the margin of winning would have been higher,” added Akhilesh Yadav.

Speaking on the issue of 9th candidate fielded by BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections Akhilesh said that BJP is encouraging corruption by fielding a candidate even after knowing that they do not have enough votes. “The ninth candidate for RS berth by BJP is a clear indicator that they want to encourage corruption. I fail to understand why are they fielding a candidate when they do not have enough votes? This will only motivate corrupt practices.”