The Bhim Army chief said that the alliance with SP could not happen since he felt that the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav just wanted the Dalit vote and not a Dalit leader.
A day after announcing a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the Assembly election, the Bhim Army chief, Chandrashekhar Azad, on Saturday, said that the alliance with SP could not happen since he felt that the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav just wanted the Dalit vote and not a Dalit leader.
Refuting the allegation of Chandrashekhar the SP chief said that he had offered two seats to the Azad Samaj Party (ASP), the political front launched by the Bhim Army, but Azad backed out of the alliance stating that his organisation was against contesting the Assembly election. Immediately after the alliance talk Azad talked to someone on the mobile then walked out of the alliance. Was there some pressure on him or he voluntarily decided against the alliance, it is not known, Yadav said.
“I had talked with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary about offering two seats to the Bhim Army in West UP- Rampur Maniharan and Ghaziabad and he agreed. The Samajwadi Party is working for the welfare and dignity of the Dalit and Backward community, the leaders of both the communities have been given tickets and are also part of the SP alliance,” he said.
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Chandrashekhar said that he has been trying for an alliance with the Samajwadi Party for over a month but it didn’t materialise, alleging that Akhilesh Yadav humiliated the people of scheduled caste community.
“I had been holding discussions with Akhilesh Yadav for over six months. I met him several times to finalise the alliance but it seems that he is not interested in an alliance with ASP. He does not want Dalits in this alliance but wants Dalit vote. I have been mobilising the Dalit community across Uttar Pradesh for over nine years. The Bhim Army will continue its fight for the justice and dignity of the Dalit community,” he said.
The Bhim Army was working for a pre-poll alliance with like-minded parties to stop the BJP from returning to power, he said.
In a tweet Chandrashekhar said, there is great power in unity. It is not easy to defeat a party like BJP without strength and unity. It is the responsibility of the leader of the coalition to take care of the representation of all communities and respect all the people in a society. Today, the Dalit community in UP expects that Akhilesh Yadav will fulfil this responsibility, he said.
