New Delhi [India], Jan. 22 : Hailing the decision of forming alliance, both the Samajwadi Party and Congress on Sunday echoed similar sentiments and said history will soon be created in Uttar Pradesh.
Commenting on the political development, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI that the grand old party would emerge as an umbrella party around which the anti-fascist and pro-poor parties would rally.
"All of us welcome this decision. This has been going on for a while. The pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) people were trying to upset the situation and that it should not happen.
There was this certainty that if the Samajwadi Party and the Congress come together, there's no way that the BJP wins," he added.
Resonating similar sentiments, Samajwadi Party leader Naved Siddiqui alleged the BJP of spreading hatred and disharmony among the people and said this would, however, be stopped when the SP-Congress alliance comes into power.
"When two political parties come together, then it's the communal parties that face the brunt. At present, there is only party in India which is sowing hatred into the minds of people and erecting barriers of communal disharmony among the people.
To get rid of such parties, an alliance of secular parties is needed," he told ANI. Siddiqui termed the alliance as 'historic' and said they are confident of winning more than 300 seats in the upcoming state assembly elections.
"Our chief Akhilesh Yadav has already said that we are getting more than 250 seats if we contest the elections without any alliance.
And now, when other secular parties are with us, we will surely win more than 300 seats. So with the Congress making an alliance with us, we will get more than 300 seats and history will be created," he added.
Siddiqui also replied to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati's allegations that the Samajwadi Party didn't fulfil any promises made in 2012's election manifesto and said they have done more than what was promised.
"We have fulfilled more than what was said in the manifesto. There's a lot new in the manifesto and we will fulfil them all as we fulfilled the earlier promises," he added.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress earlier in the day firmed up an alliance for next month's high-voltage Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls at a joint press briefing.
They vowed to make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister of the politically crucial state yet again while promising to free the state from communal and divisive forces.
The formal announcement of SP-Congress alliance has come after discussions by the two sides over few days before they agreed to 298-105 formula.
The poll process in Uttar Pradesh begins on February 11. 73 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh will go polls in this phase. The filing of nominations for these constituencies will end on January 24. Uttar Pradesh is set to have a seven-phase polling between February 11 and March 8..
Source: ANI
