BJP's '400-Plus' Goal Misjudged Public Sentiment; No Seats in Phase 3: Akhilesh

When the seats where BJP loses with the highest number of votes are counted, the name of Sambhal Lok Sabha should be included in it, he further urged the voters.Yadav also said the election in Sambhal is an opportunity to pay tribute to party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq, who was declared as the SP candidate but died earlier this year.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed the BJP will not win any seat in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls and that the ruling party misunderstood the direction of the wind when it made its slogan of ''400 paar''.

Addressing a rally in Sambhal, Yadav also said the Samajwadi Party had an advantage in the third phase, saying that elections on May 7 will be held between Sambhal and "his home" in Etawah and Mainpuri.

''BJP people did not know the direction of the wind, so they kept saying 400 paar' (winning over 400 seats) and when they realised the public sentiment after the two phases of the election, BJP forgot its slogan," the former UP chief minister said.

''The wind that came from the west (western UP) in the first phase will change the BJP government. The similar trend was seen in the second phase also. People are not accepting the BJP," the SP chief said.

"It is now your responsibility in the third phase," he added to those gathered for the rally taken out in support of party candidate Zia ur Rahman Barq.

Later while speaking to reporters in Moradabad too, Yadav said the BJP's "language" has changed from '400 paar' to issues of the PDA, his coinage for "pichhde (backwards), Dalits and Adivasis".

''These elections are being held from this part till our home. Netaji (SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav) has also been an MP from this area (Sambhal). Voting is going to take place from here to Mainpuri. I can say that the BJP is not going to open its account in any Lok Sabha seat here," Yadav said in Sambhal.

Mulayam Singh, an ex-CM and the SP chief's father, was elected an MP from Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency twice in 1998 and 1999.

''Next to you, Samajwadi Party is winning in Rampur and Moradabad and if all the Lok Sabha seats nearby are winning, then will the people of Sambhal be left behind? When the seats where BJP loses with the highest number of votes are counted, the name of Sambhal Lok Sabha should be included in it,'' he further urged the voters.

Yadav also said the election in Sambhal is an opportunity to pay tribute to party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq, who was declared as the SP candidate but died earlier this year. After his death, his grandson, Zia ur Rahman Barq got the party ticket.

"We gave the ticket to the very popular Shafiqur Rahman Barq Saheb but he is no longer with us. This is an opportunity to pay tribute to him. He always stood for the rights of his people," he said.

The SP chief also said that the Lok Sabha polls are a fight between those that want to abolish the Constitution and the INDIA bloc and the socialists who want to protect the Constitution.

''Bharatiya Janata Party is conspiring to abolish the Constitution and take away our and your right to vote. So this is an election to save the Constitution and our rights," he said.

Those who are out to change the Constitution will be changed by the public, the SP leader said.

Asserting that the BJP has insulted the farmers, Yadav said, ''The INDIA alliance government will waive off the loans of farmers. We will provide facilities to farmers.We will guarantee MSP for crops." He added that the BJP betrayed the youth just like the farmers. "It was promised to provide two crore jobs every year to the youth. Ever since BJP came to government, papers of every recruitment exam are being leaked, the SP leader said.

Yadav said that the BJP government has ''abolished permanent recruitment in the Army'' and ''introduced the Agniveer scheme and made it a four-year job''.

Yadav said he was worried that under the current government, even policemen may be asked to serve for only three years like the Agniveer.

Later, when asked by reporters in Moradabad district about the FIR against Sanatan Pandey, SP's candidate from Ballia, Yadav said registering a case against Pandey is natural based on the remarks he made.

Pandey could have expressed his feelings in some other way, he added.

On Saturday, Pandey was booked for allegedly spreading enmity and threatening the district election officer. This was in connection to his remarks that he was winning the elections last time, but the administration cost him his victory. ''Cases should also be registered against those who, from big stages, are making comments on the country's Constitution, the 'Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb' and brotherhood. Will the Election Commission take action against them?'' Yadav asked. ''We witnessed in the last polls that in Saharanpur, Bijnor and (neighbouring) Rampur, the administration snatched votes by deploying the police. If he (Pandey) said this, then he must have some suspicion because he had lost by a very small margin last time (2019 Lok Sabha elections),'' he added.

Pandey contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2019, losing to the BJP's Virendra Singh Mast by 16,000 votes.

Moradabad district consists of Kundarki and Bilari assembly segment of Sambhal Lok Sabha seat.

When asked about former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Yadav said, ''If they are contesting, it is a good thing.'' In Uttar Pradesh, voting took place on eight seats in the first phase on April 19 and eight seats in the second phase on April 26, and most of these seats were in Western Uttar Pradesh.

In the third phase, voting will be held on 10 seats in Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun, Aonla and Bareilly on May 7.

Voting is scheduled to be held in all seven phases on 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)