LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said his party is set on returning to power in Uttar Pradesh in the 2022 assembly elections and next month's bypolls for seven seats will mark a beginning towards that goal.
"The party's target is the next Assembly election and its beginning is being made through the coming by-elections in which SP's performance would be good. The next elections will decide the future of the country's politics," the party chief told newspersons here.
He said his party's efforts would be to connect with the maximum number of people and claimed that the voters of UP are prepared to remove the current state government.
The bypolls to seven assembly seats in the state is scheduled for November 3.
As soon as the voters get a chance, everyone will see how this government is going to be defeated, the former chief minister said while welcoming members of different parties who joined the SP.
Attacking the UP government for its performance on the law and order front, Yadav alleged that it hides the crime figures.
There is not just one incident of crime against women but several that are being reported, he said.
The 47-year-old also welcomed the Allahabad High Court verdict on cow slaughter and said it would have taken detailed information on it. The High Court had on Monday raised concerns over misuse of the anti-cow slaughter law in UP to target innocent persons and lack of forensic evidence to prove that the recovered meat is beef.
"Anyone writing the truth faces the wrath and jail. FIRs have also been written against the journalists who had written the truth," he said.
Questioning the state government on its handling of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed lives of ministers and officials, he said that now it is being said that we have to live with it.
"If so, why are the facilities not being improved in hospitals," he asked.
The former CM also questioned the ruling party for its promise to double the income of farmers saying that it was a mere slogan. He wanted the government to disclose how many schemes of the more than Rs 40 lakh crore worth MOUs that were signed by it have actually taken shape.
"This is a jhoothi sarkar against which people are coming together," he added.