Open to “all possibilities” to prevent BJP from coming to power: Akhilesh

Yadav’s opinions of Singh were expressed in the response to a query on Singh’s assessment that the BJP will out-perform the SP-Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh polls.

The political sidelining of the 77-year-old Mulayam Singh Yadav, which began with him being replaced as national president by son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav following a bitter family feud in January, was accentuated in the just wrapped-up elections, with Mulayam Singh playing only a limited role in the Samajwadi Party campaign. As BJP’s poll strategist, Sarma proved his worth by helping the party win its first-ever seats in Manipur byelections in 2015.

He had said he considered BJP and not BSP risky for the country.

Akhilesh Yadav told to BBC Hindi, making it clear that the Samajwadi Party would not hesitate in engaging rival Bahujan Samaj Party to form the Uttar Pradesh government – as the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal earlier did in Bihar. “Nobody would want that”, Akhilesh told a TV Channel when asked about the possibility of the alliance.

Also, much before the real results are out, Akhilesh-loyalists are busy defending their leader.

Speaking separately to a news agency, the CM seemed keen to avoid the prospect of the state being put under a spell of central rule in case the outcome on Saturday throws up a hung House.

Hasnain also pointed out that the last electoral alliance of SP’s Mulayam and BSP’s Kanshi Ram had also collapsed because their political alliance failed to percolate down to the social groups they represented. And I have always respected the leader of the BSP by (mentioning) a relationship.

“It is my belief that farmers, youths and women have voted in SP’s favour”. But, we don’t know about the circumstances after results. “He said won’t let BJP run UP with remote and will use full force to stop them; now any meaning can be derived out of it”.

With his magical turnaround plan that helped the BJP to get its hand on the one-time Congress bastion, Assam, the Sarma-led NEDA captured another Congress-ruled state, Arunachal Pradesh, in a matter of months.

The final answers, of course, are waiting for us on 11 March.