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UP Election 2022: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Saturday ruled out the possibility of an alliance between his party, Azad Samaj Party, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Addressing a press conference, Chandrashekhar Azad said that Akhilesh Yadav does not want Dalits in this alliance, he just wants Dalit vote bank. Azad, a Dalit-Bahujan rights activist, said he tried for over a month to form an alliance with the Samajwadi Party but it didn’t fructify, alleging that Akhilesh Yadav humiliated the people of Bahujan Samaj.
“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 told the media.
“Yesterday Akhileshji humiliated us… yesterday Akhileshji humiliated the bahujan samaj,” Chandrashekhar Azad said, a day after meeting the Samajwadi Party chief to discuss seat-sharing.
#WATCH | …Akhilesh Yadav does not want Dalits in this alliance, he just wants Dalit vote bank. He humiliated the people of Bahujan Samaj, I tried but the alliance could not happen…: Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad pic.twitter.com/okVnUlJyVv
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 15, 2022
Speculations over a possible tie-up between the Samajwadi Party and the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) gained momentum on Friday after Chandrashekhar Azad called on Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav.
Akhilesh has stitched an alliance with Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Earlier, the Samajwadi Party and the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party had announced their alliance for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena has also declared that it would contest the UP Assembly polls alone.
Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has also jumped into the UP election scenario and may contest in few seats with an alliance with the SP.
Asaduddin Owaisi-headed AIMIM has also announced to contest the elections in UP.
Uttar Pradesh will vote in seven phases to elect 403 MLAs between February 10 and March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
