5-state elections: Days after dig at Congress, Akhilesh Yadav snubs INDIA bloc, invokes 'PDA'

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, October 22

The trouble in the alliance for the Congress mounted further on Sunday with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav preferring to use the acronym PDA over INDIA to flag his party’s strengths against the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

After attacking the Congress for betrayal in the election-bound Madhya Pradesh, where a state-level seat sharing agreement between the two parties failed, Yadav today posted the picture of an SP worker, with his back painted in party colours and featuring the slogan PDA (which stands for Pichhde, Dalits and Alpsankhyak).

Congress-SP friction

• SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday posted a picture of an SP worker, with his back painted in party colours and featuring the slogan PDA (which stands for Pichhde, Dalits and Alpsankhyak)
• His PDA slogan had taken a back seat after the Opposition got together under the INDIA bloc. However, his decision today to revert to PDA signals a growing friction between Congress and SP

Yadav had first unveiled the “PDA will defeat NDA in 2024” slogan on June 21 when he launched a related campaign in Lucknow. PDA, however, took a back seat after opposition parties got together under the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP in the 18th General Election next year.

But Akhilesh Yadav’s decision today to revert to PDA signals a growing friction between Congress and SP, with Yadav posting the party worker’s picture with the latter’s back reading: “Mission 2024. May Netaji (read late SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav) remain immortal. PDA will ensure that Akhilesh Yadav wins the election this time. Akhilesh Yadav will ensure the poor justice.”

Posting the telling picture, Yadav captioned it: “Hoga 24 ka chunaav, PDA ka inqalaab. (the 2024 election will ensure PDA victory).” Yadav continues to express strong public displeasure over what he calls “ill treatment of SP by the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.” “Our state leaders were invited by Congress for talks. We were given to understand that there will be an understanding. But we were betrayed. If there was to be no seat sharing arrangement, the Congress could have openly told us so,” Yadav again said on Saturday ahead of further hardening his stand today.

The acrimony means SP and Congress have now fielded candidates in 18 seats in a 230 member MP Assembly. Yadav even questioned the Congress for a change of heart on caste census. “This is the same Congress that did not release the numbers of the caste census earlier. It is a miracle that they want it now because now everyone knows that until you have the support of backwards, you can’t succeed,” said Yadav.

The Congress maintains the 2014 Lok Sabha elections had been declared by the time the SECC data came and that was why the data could not be published.

“Rahul Gandhi has been asking the BJP government to publish the data,” said Congress leader K Raju.

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