"Those Who Left, Might Not Have Had The Guts. . .": Akhilesh Yadav On Samajwadi Party MLA's Cross- Vote In Rajya Sabha Polls (image: twitter.com/yadavakhilesh/)

On Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs cross-voting for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, party supremo Akhilesh Yadav responded that not everyone has the guts to stand against the government. As a massive blow to the SP, ahead of the voting for the Rajya Sabha seats on Tuesday, the party”s chief whip in the Assembly resigned this morning, and reportedly as many as seven legislators from the party cross-voted for the BJP candidate.

Attacking the SP leaders who allegedly cross-voted, Akhilesh Yadav said: “Not everybody has the guts to stand against the Government…pressure is put on everybody, is there anyone who doesn”t know that BJP would go to any extent to win,” ANI reports as party supremo is saying. BJP indulged in corruption during Chandigarh elections as well, the party leader added.

“When it comes to UP, BJP did everything to get votes and those who left, might not have had the guts to stand against the govt. Action will be taken because our party leaders want such people to be kept away from the party…” he said.

The resignation of Manoj Kumar Pandey, Unchahar MLA and party chief whip came hours after eight MLAs skipped a dinner hosted by party chief and it raised speculations over cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. Along with Manoj Pandey, seven other MLAs — Mukesh Verma, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh — were absent on the meeting.

SP, which will be contesting in 63 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh as part of the INDIA alliance in the upcoming general elections, the current crisis comes as a heavy blow. In the Rajya Sabha elections for 10 seats, SP and BJP has fielded three and eight candidates respectively.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav in X handle wrote that the third candidate was a test to identify true loyalists to the party who was with PDA (Pichada, Dalit, Alpsankhyak-Muslims) and who was against the backward classes, Dalits and minorities.

हमारी राज्यसभा की तीसरी सीट दरअसल सच्चे साथियों की पहचान करने की परीक्षा थी और ये जानने की कि कौन-कौन दिल से PDA के साथ और कौन अंतरात्मा से पिछड़े, दलित और अल्पसंख्यकों के ख़िलाफ़ है।

अब सब कुछ साफ़ है, यही तीसरी सीट की जीत है। pic.twitter.com/SWzDhvtnvF

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 27, 2024

“Now everything is clear, this is the victory of the third seat,” he tweeted.