Yesterday, Congress’ in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, met the Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad at a hospital in Meerut. The previous day, Chandrashekhar Azad, was taken into custody by the police for the alleged violation of the model code of conduct and he was later shifted to a hospital after falling ill.
After the meeting, Priyanka told reporters that this government has become so arrogant that it wants to crush any dissenting voice. “It does not want to listen to the youth. It could not provide jobs, and when the youth decided to raise their voice, it decided to crush them,” stated the Gandhi scion. Earlier, on Tuesday, the Bhim Army Chief was detained for leading a procession that allegedly violated the model code of conduct by exceeding the number of permitted vehicles in its political rally.
However, when Priyanka Gandhi was asked about the political implications of the visit, she steadily refuted any speculations stating that it has nothing to do with politics. Yet sources claimed that Priyanka’s meeting with Azad is an attempt to woo Dalits in Uttar Pradesh and pit him against Mayawati’s BSP, which did not include the Congress in the Mahagathbandhan of the state.
On Sunday, the Bhim Army chief led the “Hunkar rally” in Meerut, which was supposed to finally come to a crescendo at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on March 15. However, the rally was slow paced after his arrest. Azad also announced that he would contest elections from Varanasi against PM Modi in case the SP-BSP alliance fails to field a strong candidate. He further resolved to field strong candidates from Amethi in order to defeat the Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Speaking to News18 during his treatment at the hospital in Meerut, Azad said, “Our padyatra was stopped by the police at the behest of UP government. We had proper permission but administration cancelled it and didn’t inform us. We are going to organise a big rally at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on March 15.”
“Mulayam Singh Yadav is giving confusing statements in the parliament; also SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav should clear his stand on the issue of reservation in promotion. The Samajwadi Party has got Varanasi seat in its quota and if it fails to field a strong candidate, then we will ensure a strong candidate against PM Modi. If required I will myself contest against him,” said Azad.
Not only does this meeting of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra finish the holy nexus of SP and BSP entirely, Azad’s willingness to contest Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi is a direct insult to Akhilesh Yadav, as the Samajwadi Party was given the Varanasi seat. The collective opposition across the country had given him the responsibility to defeat PM Modi.
Moreover, Akhilesh is not the only one to be humiliated here. Prior to this, Mayawati’s candidate from Varanasi, Vijay Prakash Jaiswal has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The signal Chandrashekhar is sending out by standing against Modi is that the SP-BSP alliance is incapable of taking on PM Modi and the responsibility has to be shouldered by the likes of him.
Mayawati and Akhilesh have already made it clear that they won’t add an alliance with the Congress to the SP-BSP after multiple instances of backstabbing. The only card that the ‘holy nexus’ has left to play is to field candidates against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and divide the anti-Modi vote.
