Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, took a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that he’d contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections from his stronghold, Gorakhpur. 

He said, “I’m thankful to BJP. They have sent him home even before (polls), though people would have done it… Speculation was rife over Yogi Adityanath contesting from Ayodhya, Prayagraj…& then this”, as per ANI reports. 

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Yadav asserted that Adityanath should stay there, and there is no need for him to come back. SP has emerged as the most prominent rival of the BJP in the upcoming elections, primarily thanks to the rainbow alliance Yadav has formed with several smaller regional parties. Recently, he welcomed five ex-BJP MLAs who resigned and stated “mela hobe”, referring to the warcry “khela hobe”, raised by the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal assembly elections, where BJP tasted defeat. 

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Yadav also referred to Adityanath’s ’80 vs 20′ comment, saying “Yogi Adityanath meant BJP ‘will get 20 per cent of seats in UP while the rest 80 per cent will go to the Samajwadi Party”. 

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While Yadav has seen key Other Backward Classes (OBC) leaders join his side, a potentially key alliance with Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party fell through. The two met at Lucknow, but after the failed meeting, Yadav declared “He (Mr Azad) came to me yesterday (and) said he will contest. I gave Ghaziabad and Rampur Maniharan seats after talking to Lok Dal. Then he came, after talking to someone on the phone, and said he cannot fight… Whose phone was that? Who conspired?” 

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Azad too had some thoughts to share about the unsuccessful attempt at an alliance, saying SP doesn’t want the support of Dalits and Yadav has stated the party will not take in any more leaders. 

The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will take place in seven phases from February 10 and end on March 7. Votes will be counted and results announced on March 10.