Akhilesh Yadav Makes Big Announcement, Says SP To Contest 2022 UP Assembly Polls Alone

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday announced that Samajwadi Party will contest 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections alone. 

The announcement holds significance as the Samajwadi Party had formed an alliance with the Congress to contest the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. The SP and Congress had contested on 298 and 105 Assembly constituencies respectively. However, both the parties failed to leave any impact and the alliance was snapped after the elections.

Taking note of the poor performance, the Samajwadi Party decided to forge an alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party sans Congress for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Under the tie-up deal, both the parties contested on 38 seats each and keeping the Congress out of the alliance. However, that too didn't last for long and both the parties parted their ways.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP government and said that all cases lodged against Rampur MP Azam Khan would be withdrawn if the Samajwadi Party comes to power.

According to a statement issued by the party, Yadav made these remarks at Rampur, where he met Khan's family at his residence and visited Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Urdu Gate and Rampur Public School International.

He assured the party's full support to Khan, who is facing several police cases including those related to the alleged land-grabbing. Authorities claim that the gate of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, established by Khan in 2006, is built on government land.