To Chandrashekhar Azad's 'he does not want Dalits', Akhilesh says Bhim Army chief received some call

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said he had alloted two seats to Bhim Army, but Chandrashekhar Azad received some calls and refused to be part of the alliance. Earlier in the day, Chandrashekhar ruled out an alliance with the Samajwadi Party which is poaching Dalit leaders from the BJP for the upcoming elections saying that Akhilesh does not want Dalits in his party; he just wants the Dalit vote bank.

"After all the discussions, in the end, I felt that Akhilesh Yadav does not want Dalits in this alliance, he just wants Dalit vote bank. He humiliated the people of Bahujan Samaj, I tried for 1 month 3 days but the alliance could not happen," Azad said while addressing a press conference on Lucknow today.

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"Yesterday after we met, I had left the responsibility of the decision of an alliance on Yadav ji saying that you are my elder brother. I believe he should have called me," the Bhim Army chief said.

Though Dalit leaders are pinning hopes on Akhilesh, Azad said he believes Akhilesh does not understand the meaning of social justice. His silence over the atrocities on Dalits shows that he is behaving like the BJP, Azad said. "It does not happen with words," he said.

Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.

In the last few days, several Dalit leaders have switched from the BJP to the Samajwadi Party starting with Swami Prasad Maurya. "Let me tell BJP that I will not take any BJP MLA, minister anymore. They can deny tickets (to their leaders) if they wish to," Akhilesh said.