Mayawati to be Gathbandhan's PM-candidate? Here's ally Akhilesh's cryptic response at the SP-BSP joint briefing

"You know who is my choice. Uttar Pradesh has given prime ministers in the past and trend will be repeated again," said Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday when asked whether he will support Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati.

Akhilesh and Mayawati held a joint press conference on Saturday announcing an alliance in the upcoming General elections and fighting 38 Lok Sabha constituencies each in Uttar Pradesh.

"I want to congratulate and thank Mayawati for forming the SP-BSP alliance. In the last five years under the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the atrocities done by them on poor, farmers, MSMEs, Dalit, women and children are unimaginable. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP government has spread hatred amongst the people," he added.

Attacking the BJP government both at the Centre and Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh said: "To defeat the arrogance of BJP, it was necessary for BSP and SP to come together. Our alliance is to fight against the communal hatred spread by the BJP. It can go to any extent to create differences in our workers, we must be united and counter any such tactic."

He added, "The alliance was in my mind since the day BJP leaders made obscene comments on Mayawati. Instead of punishing them, BJP gave big ministries to these leaders. From today onwards, all the SP workers should know that disrespect of Mayawati, will be my disrespect." (ANI)