Lok Sabha polls 2024: 'Clean sweep of I.N.D.I.A. bloc from Ghaziabad to Ghazipur', says Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav

Ghaziabad: Asserting that 'winds of change' are blowing from western Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said there will be an I.N.D.I.A. bloc 'clean sweep' from Ghaziabad to Ghazipur.

He also urged the people to ensure that their votes are not divided and asked them to guard their booths to ensure a wipeout of the BJP.

Yadav made the remarks during a joint press conference with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, their first during the Lok Sabha election cycle.

"The first phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh are going to be held. The winds that are blowing from the west are going to change the environment of the whole of Uttar Pradesh and the country," Yadav said with Gandhi and other Congress leaders by his side.

"Today we are sitting in Ghaziabad. There will be a clean sweep of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc over the BJP from Ghaziabad to Ghazipur," the Samajwadi Party chief said.

He claimed that farmers are distressed as all the BJP's promises and claims have turned out to be a 'big lie'.

Neither have farmers' incomes doubled nor youngsters got jobs, he said.

"Their (BJP) balloon of morality has burst. The electoral bonds issue has exposed them. The BJP has become a godown of the corrupt. They are not only taking in the corrupt but also their earnings," Yadav alleged.

"They (BJP) made claims of double engine, look at their hoardings now, their candidates are missing and only single person is there. After the polls, that person who is alone on the hoardings will also disappear," he said in an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"They have only one slogan to lie and loot. Lying has become their identity," Yadav added.

The Samajwadi Party chief also slammed the BJP over the examination paper leak issue in Uttar Pradesh, saying the future of 60 lakh youngsters has been left in darkness.

"Make sure that not a single vote is divided. We have to vote and also guard our booth to ensure that the BJP is wiped out," Yadav said.

"The people of the country want change. Winds of change are blowing from western Uttar Pradesh and I am confident that an I.N.D.I.A. bloc government will be formed," he asserted.

Yadav said the PDA (Pichchda, Dalit aur Alpsankhyak) will defeat the NDA (National Democratic Alliance).

"They will be wiped off from here to Ghazipur and those who came in 2014 will exit in 2024. The people of Uttar Pradesh ensure a grand welcome and this time they will also ensure a grand departure," he said.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress are contesting the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress is contesting 17 seats while the Samajwadi Party and some other allies are fighting from the remaining 63 seats in the politically crucial state, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.

Eight constituencies in Uttar Pradesh -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzzafarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Muradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit -- will go to the polls in the first phase.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will begin on Friday and the counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.