BJP Conspired to Nix Election of a Dalit to the Rajya Sabha, Says Akhilesh Yadav

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday hit out at the BJP, a day after it managed to grab nine out of 10 Rajya Sabha seats available from Uttar Pradesh.

While it was assured of eight seats, the BJP managed to snatch the ninth seat as well from the SP-BSP combine after cross voting on Friday.

Taking to Twitter, Yadav said that in the UP Rajya Sabha elections, the character of BJP has been revealed, accusing the party of misusing power institutions and money against the poor.

The conspiracy of BJP against the election of a Dalit has also strengthened the unity of SP-BSP for the next elections, he added while thanking BSP supremo Mayawati for her support.

Yadav’s tweet came after Mayawati asserted that her party's understanding with the SP will not be affected by the defeat in Rajya Sabha polls and that she will not allow the BJP's "design" to create a rift between the two parties to succeed.

“There will not be an iota of difference in the close understanding between the BSP and SP because of the Rajya Sabha results yesterday," Mayawati said at a press conference, clearly indicating that the BSP is keen to consolidate its association with the SP which is seen as a major reason for the BJP's defeat in two prestigious Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats.

Yadav also cancelled the victory celebration for his party nominee Jaya Bachchan to be held in the state capital on Saturday as a sign of solidarity with the BSP whose lone candidate backed by the SP lost in the Rajya Sabha polls.

In the election, BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar received 32 first preference votes, five short of the magic number in the state. He lost out to BJP’s Anil Kumar Agarwal in the second round of counting.

"I am thankful for the support of Congress and SP whose seven MLAs voted for BSP candidate as well as one SBSP MLA Kailash Nath Sonekar who voted as per his conscience and will stand by him in case he faces any trouble in future," Mayawati said, alleging "the BJP tried every trick to defeat the BSP candidate and indulged in malpractice".

"I want to warn the BJP and RSS that I will not allow their design to create rift between the new understanding among the BSP and Samajwadi Party to succeed under which they conspired to the defeat of BSP candidate in the Rajya Sabha election," she said.