UP Elections 2022: Bhim Army chief rules out alliance with Samajwadi Party, says Akhilesh wants Dalit vote bank but not Dalit leaders

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Saturday ruled out the possibility of an alliance with Samajwadi Party for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav wanted the Dalit vote bank but no Dalit leaders in the alliance.

Azad said he unified the ‘Bahujan Samaj’ and kept meeting Yadav over the last six months. He said he was in Lucknow for two days to meet Akhilesh Yadav but the latter insulted him by not calling him.

“I have had a lot of meetings with Akhilesh Yadav in the last 6 months. Meanwhile, positive things also happened but in the end I felt that Akhilesh Yadav does not need Dalits. He does not want Dalit leaders in this alliance. He only wants Dalits to vote for him,” Azad said today.

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“After all the discussions, in the end, I felt that Akhilesh Yadav does not want Dalits in this alliance, he just wants Dalit vote bank. He humiliated the people of Bahujan Samaj, I tried for 1 month 3 days but the alliance could not happen,” he added.

Chandra Shekhar Aazad said in order to stop the BJP, he tried joining hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and SP. “I considered Akhilesh Yadav as my elder brother,” Azad said.

Earlier today, it was reported in the media that the alliance between Azad Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party had been finalised and a formal announcement was scheduled to be made via a press conference at 12:30 pm today.

Posing a direct challenge to the BJP, the Samajwadi Party has joined hands with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Mahan Dal, the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) , the Trinamool Congress and the Janvadi Party (Socialist).

Launched in March 2020, the ASP had contested the Bihar assembly election held in October, 2020, in alliance with the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) led by Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav. The ASP and the JAP had joined Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) of the smaller political parties. The ASP failed to open its account in Bihar despite month-long campaign by Chandrashekhar Azad. 

Fearing that ASP might cut into the BSP Dalit vote base, BSP chief Mayawati had called upon the party workers not to be misguided by the parties launched by some leaders to serve their vested political interests.