Akhilesh Yadav

After the luncheon meeting at Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister returned home.There was no official word as to what transpired during the meeting. Both the leaders did not speak to the media after the meeting and the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) or the BRS also.

Arvind Kejriwal, accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi minister Atishi and AAP MP Sanjay Singh, met Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Wednesday evening to seek his support. Later talking to reporters, Kejriwal said that if non-BJP parties join hands, they can defeat the controversial ordinance in Rajya Sabha where they have an upper hand in numbers.

He said that this was a clear indicator of the party's feudal mindset which has come as a blot to the image of the democratic India in the world. "News reports of exploitation, harassment and forcefully silencing voices of dissent are being published at the international level and are bringing a bad name to India before the world community.

This is a major shift in the SP stand since the party, till now, had vehemently opposed the Congress, terming it as a "B-team of the BJP". Akhilesh has now backed West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Mamata Banerjee's statement for opposition unity at the national level

After losing the municipal elections, Akhilesh Yadav said: "They (BJP) tried every trick to influence elections but nothing worked in their favour. The BJP faced a humiliating defeat in elections held for posts other than that of mayors and corporators." The SP also attacked the BJP, alleging that it had a role in slow pace of counting in Mainpuri and a number of other places.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, could not win even a single mayoral seat out of the 17 on Saturday and also failed to retain the Suar Assembly seat that it had held for years. The SP also failed to wrest the Chhanbey seat from the Apna Dal (S).

With Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad now by his side, Akhilesh said the SP was moving ahead on the principles and ideology of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. Bahujan Samaj Party andar hi andar BJP se mili hui hai. Chunav mein BSP se savdhan rehna (BJP has quietly joined hands with the BJP.

"There is a lack of coordination between the Centre and state government. This was reflected in the delay in the appointment of DGP in the state. The state government's agencies are conducting raids in Delhi while the Centre is conducting raids in several parts of the state, including Gorakhpur. A development project has been stopped at the behest of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Varanasi, which is the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said in a statement.

The election campaign hovers around mafia and the efforts undertaken by the Yogi Adityanath to wipe out mafia raj. Even as the Samajwadi Party (SP) blames the state government for unleashing a reign of terror and lawlessness, the BJP has come out with a new campaign song that says, "Gunde pukarte hai Akhilesh aaiye'/dangon mein phirse UP ko wapas jalaiye".

Akhilesh said that the ruling party was trying to divert the attention of the people from the real issues plaguing the state. He said the BJP government did not believe in the judiciary and was taking the law into its own hands. He said it was not right for those in power to pass judgement on who was right or wrong and to decide who should live or die.