Advani being given Bharat Ratna so that BJP's votes don't get scattered: Akhilesh Yadav
Balrampur/Gonda (UP) (PTI): Hours after the Centre announced its decision to honour former prime minister L K Advani with the Bharat Ratna, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said it is being done to ensure that the BJP's votes do not get scattered.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Advani would be conferred with the Bharat Ratna and praised the contribution of the BJP's longest-serving president to public life.
Yadav was in Balrampur district to attend a programme to pay tributes to senior SP leader and MLA Shiv Pratap Yadav, who died on January 26.
ALSOREAD: Former Deputy PM LK Advani to be honoured with Bharat Ratna, says PM Modi
"The BJP has given the honour before its tenure (at the Centre) comes to an end so that its votes do not get scattered," Yadav told reporters in an apparent reference to Advani being conferred with the Bharat Ratna.
"This Bharat Ratna is being given to consolidate votes, it is not being given out of respect," he said.
On seat-sharing in the opposition INDIA bloc, Yadav said there is almost a consensus on it.
"The basis for distribution of seats is 'jeet' (victory) and seat," he said, adding that he has already talked to the Congress leadership and there is no dilemma regarding the distribution of seats.
Asked if he would join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the SP chief said he has not received any invitation so far.
On Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joining the NDA, Yadav asked "which magic of the BJP" encouraged him to do so.
He said the issue of caste census will not be sidelined and the SP will take it forward.
According to a statement issued by the SP in Lucknow, Yadav participated in several programmes in Balrampur, Gonda and Barabanki on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters in Gonda, Yadav said, "The BJP has become the biggest land mafia party. There is no district left where land mafias are not operating."
The chief minister himself has admitted that many land mafias have come to Gorakhpur, the SP leader said.
"It seems that law and order has become zero under the BJP government," he said.
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Chadha, others wouldn't have left AAP had it followed 'right' path: Anna Hazare
Mumbai (PTI): Social activist Anna Hazare has said Raghav Chadha and six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members would not have quit the party had it followed the "right" path.
"Everyone has the right to hold an opinion in a democracy. They (Chadha and others) must have faced some trouble, which is why they left," Hazare told reporters on Friday in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra.
AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak addressed a joint press conference in Delhi on Friday, announcing their exit from the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to join the BJP.
Chadha claimed that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha members had quit the party and would function as a separate faction.
"It is their (AAP leadership’s) fault. Had that party followed the right way, they would not have left," Hazare said.
Hazare reiterated that Chadha and others must have faced difficulties within AAP, and that is why they left. "Had the party gone in the right direction, they would not have quit the party," he added.
"There must be some or the other reason (for their leaving AAP). In a democracy, every person has a view about where to stay and leave," Hazare said.
The Chadha-led exodus marks a significant setback for the Kejriwal-led party since its formation in 2012, which followed the momentum of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.
