After Experiments With Congress And BSP Ended Badly In 2017 And 2019, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav Says No Alliance In 2022

Former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that he will return to power in Uttar Pradesh with 351 seats in 2022 Assembly election. He said this while he was addressing a gathering at a conclave in Lucknow.

Yadav has ruled out the possibility of an alliance with any political party.

A report in the New Indian Express has quoted him as saying: “SP’s cycle will speed up. We will win 351 seats and form the government. The cycle will take all sections of the people along.”

He added that the party would go it alone, an alliance is not required and that adjustments can be made if needed.

In the 2017 polls, Yadav had stitched up an alliance with Congress. It had failed to cut ice with the voters, as his party's strength came tumbling down and Congress itself could manage a single digit strength.

While the BJP-led alliance had won 325 out of 403 assembly seats in the state in 2017, the Congress and SP gathbandhan had won only 54.

For the Lok Sabha election in 2019, Akhilesh turned towards Mayawati-led Bahujan Samajwadi Party keeping aside the rivalries between the two parties and its leaders. The result wasn't different this time as well.

The SP-BSP alliance had tasted success in the bypolls ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, just months later, in the Lok Sabha polls, the alliance failed to dent the BJP-led alliance’s performance significantly.

The alliance was supposed to stop Yogi Adityanath's performance in the Modi-led team, but faced a defeat. BSP won 10 seats while SP dwindled to 5. Its former ally Congress could manage to win just one seat.

In the current scenario, SP has cleared its position on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Yadav has said that his party is against CAA and National Population Register. He has been reported as saying: “SP members will not fill NPR forms.” He is against NRC.

SP's alliance with BSP last year cracked after the Lok Sabha polls. BSP supremo said in June 2019 that SP failed to even get the traditional Yadav vote and support in the election that saw BJP winning big in Uttar Pradesh.

This Economic Times quoted her saying: “If Yadavs had voted in full measure for the alliance, senior SP leaders like Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav would not have lost from Yadav-dominated seats. This is a matter for concern for the Samajwadi Party.”

Her comments back then indicated that her party had not benefited from the alliance.