Poll results expose hollowness of Gujarat model of development: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said the outcome of the Gujarat Assembly election had exposed the hollowness of the "model of development" in that state.

"It (Gujarat development model) is a fraud on the people and aimed at misleading the voters," Yadav said in an official statement here.

He said the BJP was expecting 150 seats but the results have proved that the people of that state did not endorse the Gujarat model of development through the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi went all out to ensure the party's success.

The SP had fielded candidates from five Assembly seats in Gujarat, all of whom lost the polls.

The party chief said the Congress should take all secular parties along to usher in change in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as regional parties and regional issues would have a role to play in the next general elections.

"The BJP speaks of 'sabka sath, sabka vikas' but when we try to give justice to all sections of the society, the same BJP calls it appeasement," Yadav said.

"We can build a strong Bharat only by taking all the people and sections along," said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, adding that the country could not progress when farmers were distressed and the youth was unemployed.