BJP indulges in conspiracy, riots when elections are near: Shivpal Yadav

Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav on Wednesday targeted the BJP over violence in Haryana and Manipur and said whenever elections are near, the saffron party "indulges in conspiracy and gets riots done".

While replying to a question regarding the recent violence in the two states, Yadav said, "BJP members only do politics of appeasement. Whenever elections come near, they make conspiracy and get riots done."

The country will witness Parliamentary v elections early next year.

At least six people, including two home guards and a cleric, were killed in the communal violence in Haryana on July 31 while 116 have been arrested.

The northeastern state of Manipur has witnessed repeated inter-ethnic clashes primarily between two local ethnic communities, the Meitei and Kuki.

Yadav said that the Samajwadi Party (SP) will do better in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and claimed that the party will win at least 50 seats (out of a total of 80) in Uttar Pradesh.

In the 2019 elections, SP had contested Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the BSP and won only 5 seats while BSP bagged 10 seats.

Attacking Suheldev Bahujan Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, whose party recently became part of NDA, Yadav said, "Even people of his community have lost faith in him." "His words have no meaning. He can say anything to anyone. You all have heard what he used to say about the Prime Minister and Chief Minister during assembly polls," he said.

SBSP contested the 2022 assembly polls in UP in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

Addressing a press conference at a private hotel in the Fefna area, Shivpal said, "BJP people don't believe in the court, constitution and democracy. They can't wait for the court verdict (in the Gyanvapi case) and are making statements." He apparently referred to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's recent assertions asking the Muslim community to come forward to admit that “a historic mistake” had happened at the site (Varanasi), and propose a “solution”.

When asked about the chances of him contesting from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat, which was won by party Chief Akhilesh Yadav in 2019, Shivpal Yadav said that he would follow the decision of party national leadership in this regard.

The seat went to the BJP in the bypoll after Akhilesh left it on becoming an MLA.

On taking gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari, SBSP MLA, in SP, Yadav said, "He was with Om Prakash Rajbhar till now. When he comes out of jail we will talk about it and the leadership will take a decision on it." Replying to a question regarding elections on the Varanasi seat, he said that the opposition alliance INDIA candidate will contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On being asked whether he will go to Ayodhya darshan, Yadav said, "Once the construction completes, I will surely go there for darshan."