Samajwadi Party (SP) National President Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday that to fight the BJP, a team must be brave, and those who are afraid cannot work together.
“Those who get scared will leave, but the SP will not back down from the fight,” he asserted.
Addressing a press conference at the party office here on Wednesday, Akhilesh strongly targeted the BJP.
Responding to OP Rajbhar’s claims, Akhilesh Yadav said that many new faces would emerge at the right time.
He said that many people would reveal their cards in Uttar Pradesh politics in due course. He also dropped political hints regarding claims of BJP MLAs switching sides.
He announced that a major SP conference would be held in Gorakhpur soon. Party functionaries from Gorakhpur are busy with the preparations, and the date of the conference will be announced shortly. The SP has made Gorakhpur the centre of its Mission 2027 and is preparing to corner the BJP.
The SP president attacked the Gorakhpur model of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and raised questions about the state’s education and healthcare systems.
He claimed that 487 primary schools had been closed in the Chief Minister’s home district.
According to him, Gorakhpur had 2,163 schools in 2017, a number that fell to 1,676 in 2026. He further alleged that 1,500 people had lost government jobs in Gorakhpur.
Akhilesh also alleged that Gorakhpur ranks first in Uttar Pradesh in crimes against Dalits. He claimed that Uttar Pradesh leads the country in atrocities against Dalits, with Gorakhpur topping the list. According to him, crimes against Dalits have increased by 37 per cent under BJP rule, with reported cases rising from 329 to 450.
Speaking on crimes against women, Akhilesh said that such incidents in Gorakhpur had increased by 14 per cent, from 1,283 to 1,459 cases.
He further said that health services in Gorakhpur are in poor condition. According to him, the number of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) has dropped from 77 to 9.
The Samajwadi Party, which has been attacking the BJP over issues such as education, healthcare, crime, and unfulfilled promises, presented a chargesheet detailing the BJP’s 10 years in power in Gorakhpur.
Mr Yadav said that schools had closed, jobs had been lost, and crime had increased in Gorakhpur. “The BJP will have to answer for this,” he said.