Lucknow, Sep 30 (IANS) Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly polls in 2027, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said that he will accept anyone who wants to join the party. Akhilesh Yadav’s remark was in response to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s remark that, “Without Akhilesh, everything feels empty.”
Singh made the remark when asked about the ongoing seat-sharing deliberations between the Opposition allies, days after a Congress leader said that the party will contest at least 150 seats in the forthcoming 2027 Assembly elections in UP.
Speaking to reporters, Akhilesh Yadav said: “Whoever wants to join us, we will welcome and accept them.”
Meanwhile, SP leader Ambika Chaudhary referred to Brij Bhushan Singh as a senior leader and said: “He is expressing what he believes is the public sentiment in the state. In particular, he is referring to the situation that emerged in Ayodhya following the allegations of donation-related irregularities.”
Earlier, Congress MP Imran Masood and SP MP Iqra Hasan were embroiled in a war of words after the latter reportedly said that only SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is capable of defeating the BJP in UP and suggested that the Congress could achieve little on its own.
Speaking to IANS, Imran Masood hit back, saying, “…then don’t form an alliance. Who is asking for it? Are we begging anyone? Let everyone do what they want. When a wedding procession sets out, there are many drummers, as well as people who dance and sing. Let these people dance and sing. We are focussed on our work.”
The Congress MP had earlier responded by insisting that Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the only Opposition leader with a national reach capable of unsettling the BJP.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav is currently undertaking a ‘PDA Rath Yatra’, which he had flagged off from Raebareli.
The choice of the district by the SP to launch the campaign had also raised eyebrows, since Raebareli is the Lok Sabha constituency represented by LoP Rahul Gandhi.
–IANS
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