Akhilesh Yadav

Akhilesh has specifically urged for the posthumous conferment of the Bharat Ratna on key figures of the social justice movement, including Ram Manohar Lohia, B P Mandal, Chaudhary Charan Singh, and Mulayam Singh Yadav

Yadav made this declaration at a party meeting, emphasizing that the SP is fully prepared to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP if the INDIA partnership with the Congress remains.

He made this remark on Monday evening in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur when asked about the possibility of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) being included in the INDIA bloc.

Akhilesh Yadav took strong exception to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who reportedly held Muslims responsible for the rising prices of vegetables, saying "Miyan (Muslims) vendors are responsible for the rise in prices of vegetables in the city. Most of the vegetable vendors who are increasing the price, belong to the Miyan community."

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.