A 25-year enmity was over in 25 minutes
Raja Bose, Subhash Mishra & Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui TNN
15.01.2019
He has just sealed a historic alliance with Mayawati after 25 years of bitter rivalry between Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Now, SP president Akhilesh Yadav says if intentions are noble and the approach honest, even the unthinkable can be achieved.
“In just 25 minutes, we put behind a 25-year-old enmity. This was during our meeting in Delhi on January 4, where we firmed up the seat-sharing formula,” said Akhilesh Yadav in an interview to TOIon Monday, his first after formally announcing the SP-BSP alliance on Saturday.
Akhilesh said he met Mayawati just once between the time the two parties fought together to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Gorakhpur and Phoolpur in March 2018 and the January 4 meeting.
He said that the alliance is so formidable and effective that it can bring down not only the BJP government at the Centre but also the Yogi government in the state. “Apart from the alliance’s strength, what will make this happen is the state of farmers, who are in distress,” said Akhilesh. UP chief minister may have ridiculed the alliance a number of times, but Akhilesh said it wasn’t easy to provoke him. “I cannot stoop low like Yogi does, using foul language against me and Mayawati,” he said.
He refused comment on the CBI reportedly dragging his name into UP’s mining scam but said: “I’m told that while CBI officers were not willing to drag me into it, there was pressure to include a line in the FIR that the role of ministers who held the mining portfolio should also be looked into.” When asked where the pressure came from, Akhilesh said, “We all know who is above the CBI.”
The SP chief does not see the age-old rivalry between the two parties as impediment to the coalition’s success. “SP and BSP contested each other for decades. But now we’re united. To bolster this, I’ve made it clear to SP workers that any insult to Mayawati is akin to insulting me,” he said. He also refuted allegations that the coalition was founded on caste factors.
EXERTING CONFIDENCE
Raja Bose, Subhash Mishra & Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui TNN
15.01.2019
He has just sealed a historic alliance with Mayawati after 25 years of bitter rivalry between Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Now, SP president Akhilesh Yadav says if intentions are noble and the approach honest, even the unthinkable can be achieved.
“In just 25 minutes, we put behind a 25-year-old enmity. This was during our meeting in Delhi on January 4, where we firmed up the seat-sharing formula,” said Akhilesh Yadav in an interview to TOIon Monday, his first after formally announcing the SP-BSP alliance on Saturday.
Akhilesh said he met Mayawati just once between the time the two parties fought together to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Gorakhpur and Phoolpur in March 2018 and the January 4 meeting.
He said that the alliance is so formidable and effective that it can bring down not only the BJP government at the Centre but also the Yogi government in the state. “Apart from the alliance’s strength, what will make this happen is the state of farmers, who are in distress,” said Akhilesh. UP chief minister may have ridiculed the alliance a number of times, but Akhilesh said it wasn’t easy to provoke him. “I cannot stoop low like Yogi does, using foul language against me and Mayawati,” he said.
He refused comment on the CBI reportedly dragging his name into UP’s mining scam but said: “I’m told that while CBI officers were not willing to drag me into it, there was pressure to include a line in the FIR that the role of ministers who held the mining portfolio should also be looked into.” When asked where the pressure came from, Akhilesh said, “We all know who is above the CBI.”
The SP chief does not see the age-old rivalry between the two parties as impediment to the coalition’s success. “SP and BSP contested each other for decades. But now we’re united. To bolster this, I’ve made it clear to SP workers that any insult to Mayawati is akin to insulting me,” he said. He also refuted allegations that the coalition was founded on caste factors.
EXERTING CONFIDENCE
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