Lucknow, Jan 15: In a major U- turn, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar alias Ravan, who had expressed the possibility of an alliance after meeting Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday, made serious allegations against him on Saturday.
Mr Chandrashekhar, who congratulated Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on his birthday on Saturday, has accused Akhilesh Yadav of humiliating himself. He did not stop at this, and said that, “I am not going with the Samajwadi Party. Akhilesh Yadav also doesn’t need Dalit leaders but only needs Dalit votes. It became clear that their behavior is also similar to that of the BJP”.
Mr Chandrashekhar said in a press conference here on Saturday that he met SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Friday. Even before this, he had been meeting him continuously for the last six months.
“We talked about an alliance. During this, there was a lot of talk on all the issues including reservation. I have had a lot of meetings with Akhilesh Yadav in the last six months. Meanwhile, positive things also happened but in the end I felt that Akhilesh Yadav does not need Dalits. He does not want Dalit leaders in this alliance. The SP president only wants Dalits to vote for him,” he said.
In a direct attack on Akhilesh, Chandrashekhar said that, “If Akhilesh ji comes to power with votes, then it was necessary to discuss the situation ahead. Intellectuals warned us that after coming to power, the houses of Dalits should be burnt somewhere. They will start exploiting Dalits and women would be beaten”.
He further said, “Akhilesh humiliated us after 40 days. He insulted the people of Bahujan Samaj. Akhilesh ji has not understood the meaning of social justice. They do not want to allow the leadership of Dalits to stand. They didn’t give us any information. We had left the responsibility on them to inform us but, no reply was given from their side” he said.
Chandrashekhar said that in the past, we were finalizing things regarding the alliance. “We were constantly talking to Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav. From what we could make from his words, it is clear that he does not want Bahujans in the alliance. Several issues needed to be cleared up. The character of political parties changes after coming to power. Such examples have been seen in the previous government. In such a situation, we are determined to work for the protection of Dalit rights. The SP president remained silent on the issue of our rights,” he said.
“I consider Kanshi Ram as my leader. He made Netaji the Chief Minister. What happened after that, everyone knows. We were constantly talking to Akhilesh ji about this fear,” he added.