BSP candidates were decided in Home Minister Amit Shah's room, claimed SBSP chief OP Rajbhar
The names of Bahujan Samaj Party candidates were decided in Home Minister Amit Shah's room and the party is fighting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls with an aim to help the BJP, alleges SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, while cautioning people against voting in favour of the Mayawati-led party.
The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief also slammed Yogi Adityanath over his repeated bulldozer jibes, saying "will put his bulldozer on pokland (machine), and send it back to his home".
In an interview with news agency PTI during his hectic campaign schedule in the Poorvanchal region, Mr Rajbhar said people have made up their mind for a change of government, and expressed confidence that the Samajwadi Party-led alliance of which his party is a part will get a clear majority.
On claims made in some quarters that his party may again join hands with the BJP after the polls, Mr Rajbhar said the BJP people are "the biggest liars".
"They are trained in Nagpur to lie," he alleged, in an apparent reference to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.
The SBSP had contested the 2017 polls in alliance with the BJP. It is now in alliance with the Samajwadi Party to take on the BJP.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accusation against the Samajwadi Party of supporting terrorists, he instead took a dig at the BJP, saying if it aligns with Mehbooba Mufti it is fine, but when the Samajwadi Party-led alliance talks about rights of Muslims, it is wrong.
Asked whether parties such as the BSP could play a spoiler for their alliance, Mr Rajbhar said, "What do I say...people are not even taking notice of parties such as the Congress and BSP." People have made up their mind to throw the BJP out of power and the only alternative is the Samajwadi Party-led coalition, he said.
Asserting that the BSP is fighting polls with an aim to help the BJP form government, he alleged that BSP candidates are decided at Shah's behest, in his room and only given the symbol in the BSP office.
He cautioned people against voting in favour of the Mayawati-led party.
Talking about the major issues that people would keep in mind while casting their votes, Mr Rajbhar said a big issue was stray cattle, followed by unemployment.
He highlighted that the Samajwadi Party-SBSP alliance has promised about 300 unit free electricity, free medical facilities to the poor and a caste census within six months, among other things.
"People have faith in us. We talk about rights and so people are with us," he asserted.
Stressing that "change is in the air", Mr Rajbhar said that in the whole of Uttar Pradesh, people are fed up of inflation, corruption, "goonda raj" and the stray cattle issue.
The response of the people is there for everyone to see and that is the feeling prevailing in all parts of UP, the SBSP chief said.
He said the BJP was talking about terrorism but not about basic things such as food, shelter, clothing, education, and medicine.
"How people will get education, how they will get employment, how peace and calm is maintained. They are not bothered about all that. They (the BJP) only spread hatred," he alleged.
On Yogi Adityanath's statement that it was a 80 per cent versus 20 per cent election, Mr Rajbhar said, "We talk about 85-15"-- a reference to the backward community.
Asserting that it was turning out to be a "no-contest" with the BJP, he exuded confidence that his party in alliance with Samajwadi Party and other partners, will form the next government in the state with full majority.
"Be it Ballia, Mau, Ghazipur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, the BJP will not open its account here. I have been moving around in all mandals, the people of the state want change," Mr Rajbhar said.
He also countered Yogi Adityanath's statement that there had been a vast improvement in the law and order situation in the state.
"The law and order is so good that in Hathras the body of a girl was set afire with petrol, following her rape. A trader was killed in a hotel in his (Yogi Adityanath) own district," he said.
"Any Dalit, oppressed, deprived is being beaten up in police station when he or she goes there to complain, FIRs are not being lodged," Mr Rajbhar claimed.
The law and order that they talk about is only on TV and papers, it is in "a bad shape" on the ground, he alleged.
The SBSP is contesting 18 seats in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Mr Rajbhar himself is in fray from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh facing a triangular contest from Kalicharan Rajbhar of the BJP and Shadab Fatima of the BSP.
Poorvanchal will go to the polls in the last two phases on March 3 and March 7. The results will be declared on March 10.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)