Rahul Gandhi needs Akhilesh’s cycle carrier to save political career, says BJP on alliance

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over Congress-SP alliance for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP on Monday said the Congress vice-president needed such a tie-up to save his political career.

“..this shows that Rahul Gandhi needs Akhilesh’s cycle carrier to save his political career, while junior Yadav (UP CM Akhilesh Yadav) knows that his misrule of five years will haunt him in these elections,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here.

His remarks came a day after SP and Congress decided to contest the UP Assembly elections together.

The alliance, which at one stage looked doomed with both sides driving a hard bargain, was announced by the chiefs of the state units of the two parties who declared while SP will have the lion’s share of 298 of 403 seats, Congress will contest the remaining 105.

Patra also attacked the SP president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over alleged manhandling of two women in Tappal, Aligarh, a kilometre away from Yamuna Expressway.

“..the Chief Minister was busy in politicking and stitching an alliance at the time when this gory incident was taking place. This shows lawlessness in the state and the way Akhilesh is ruining Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

The BJP leader ‘mocked’ that the Uttar Pradesh government had set a record of laying foundation stone and inaugurating the project on the same day.

BJP, which had won 71 out of 80 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, has been pulling out all stops to capture power in UP, which in terms of political implications is more important than all other poll-bound states of Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur.

The saffron party has already announced 304 candidates for 403 member UP assembly.

The seven-phase polls in the state will take place on February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, March 4 and 8.