India TV Samvaad: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at the Congress saying that the 'Grand Old Party' leaders do not invite them to their events.
Akhilesh Yadav while speaking on Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, during India TV's Samvaad said, "...every party has the right to take out yatras. We also take out yatras. There is nothing wrong in that. But Congress leaders do not invite us to their programs."
"Our vote will increase after allying with the Congress... together with the I.N.D.I.A bloc and our PDA (Pichda, Dalit, and Alpasankhayak - Backward, SC, and Minorities) strategy, our vote share will increase, because if we have to defeat the BJP, then it is important to increase our vote share," Akhilesh added.
"We need the support of all three including Lalu Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Congress... my alliance is I.N.D.I.A and PDA is the strategy," the former UP CM added.
"Mamata Banerjee is a big leader, Nitish Kumar will also help... the name of the PM's candidate will be decided if we will emerge victorious in the Lok Sabha elections," Akhilesh said.
Hitting out at the BJP, Akhilesh Yadav said that if BJP returns to power then it would even snatch away peoples' voting rights... those who have come in 2014 will exit in 2024.
"BJP would not have won a second term in 2022 UP assembly elections, if leaders from Delhi had not come to UP for campaigning. Had it been left to UP leaders, the voters of UP would have defeated BJP," he further said.
Asked which leaders from Delhi he was referring to, Yadav said, "scores of planes and helicopters carrying leaders from Delhi and other states were brought to UP for campaigning. Among them was a leader from MP (Shivraj Singh Chouhan), who has now been denied the CM post."
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