Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister OP Rajbhar on Tuesday took a dig at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to campaign for Mamata Banerjee, saying the presence of the SP chief in other states has always led to BJP’s victory.
Uttar Pradesh Minister OP Rajbhar said, “Akhilesh Yadav is going there to make BJP win. He went to Madhya Pradesh, returned after forming BJP government there. He went to Delhi, returned after forming BJP government there. He went to Mumbai, returned after forming BJP government there. These people work for BJP.”
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed in West Bengal that the Election Commission of India (ECI) in collusion with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is running the National Register of Citizens (NRC) drive under the guise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and is also harassing the common people.
He further claimed that the Election Commission (ECI) is running the SIR campaign specifically for West Bengal. Assembly elections in West Bengal are likely to be held in the first half of 2026.
Yadav said in a joint press conference with the Bengal Chief Minister “The responsibility of the Election Commission is to ensure increase in votes, but for the first time it is being seen that the Election Commission and the BJP, under the guise of SIR, are implementing NRC and harassing the common people, and their aim is to curtail as many votes as possible. While their responsibility is to help the voters,
The SP chief said that whenever elections are held, the Election Commission runs a campaign to encourage more and more people to vote, but in the name of SIR, the opposite is happening.
Akhilesh Yadav said, “In Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is being harassed in the name of ‘SIR’. No one was ever harassed in the name of ‘SIR’ in the country before. I have full confidence that she will become the Chief Minister again. The people of Bengal will defeat the BJP. They are playing with the secularism of our country. More votes are being deducted in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has defeated the ED. BJP ‘Pen Drive’ has not been able to recover from the pain of the scandal.
Similarly, on Monday, Akhilesh Yadav supported West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that the ruling party at the Center was using the Special Investigation Team (SIR) exercise to “cut votes” in states where it is facing electoral defeat.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the BJP’s SIR campaign was “not to increase votes, but to reduce votes”. He claimed that in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, constituencies where the BJP was losing, a large number of votes were being deliberately removed.
Yadav said, “BJP’s SIR (Special Investigation Team) process is not to increase votes but to reduce votes. It has been seen in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal that more votes are being removed deliberately. Where the BJP is losing, more votes are being removed deliberately. These people who spread hatred and division do not understand that Bengal is a cultural unit, not a political unit.”
The SP chief further said that “those who spread hatred and division” fail to understand that “Bengal is a cultural entity, not a political entity”. Supporting Mamata Banerjee, he asserted that central agencies have failed to harm her political position.
He further said “ED (Enforcement Directorate) lost to Didi (Mamata Banerjee). Bengal is the place from where the message of universal humanism was given. They (BJP) will not succeed here. BJP has not recovered from the pain of the ‘pen drive’ scandal. Everyone knows that BJP is going to lose, but they want to lose with dignity. Their entire struggle is focused on this,” he further said.