LUCKNOW: The BJP, which claims to be the world's largest party, does not even have candidates to contest elections, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday, a day after the opposition party's Shahjahanpur mayoral candidate jumped ship.
Ahead of the upcoming urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh, the SP's mayoral candidate from Shahjahanpur, Archana Verma, joined the BJP on Sunday.
Hours later, the BJP declared her as its mayoral candidate from the seat.
In a tweet in Hindi, Yadav said, "Look at the bankruptcy of those claiming to be the largest (political) party in the world, they do not even have a candidate to contest elections. This means that either the BJP has no worker or the BJP has a tradition of insulting its workers by not giving them a ticket. The BJP is embroiled in an internal conflict."
Welcoming Verma into the party fold, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak had said, "The Samajwadi Party had declared Archana Verma as its mayoral candidate from Shahjahanpur in the upcoming urban local bodies elections. However, she was finding it difficult to associate herself with the party. She was pained by the atrocities committed on women during the SP regime," he had said.
The urban local body polls will be held in two phases -- on May 4 and 11.
The counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.
Polling will be held for 17 seats of mayor, 1,420 seats of corporator, 199 seats of nagar palika parishad chairperson, 5,327 seats of nagar palika parishad member, 544 seats of nagar panchayat chairperson and 7,178 seats of nagar panchayat member.