Assembly Elections 2017: BJP will form next government in Uttar Pradesh, says Amit Shah

Lucknow: Sounding confident of storming back to power in Uttar Pradesh, BJP president Amit Shah today said his party alone would form the next government in the state as the SP-Congress alliance would bite the dust.

"If SP was confident about winning the polls, then why did it go for an alliance (with Congress)? The SP went for an alliance because its leaders had anticipated defeat and a whitewash in the polls," he said at an event organised by a news channel here.

He said, "UP topped the crime charts in the last five years, while it was at the bottom for all development indicators. There were 16 murders and 23 rapes daily, nearly 200 riots took place and there were 2,87,000 heinous crimes in the state".

"Akhilesh Yadav has given tickets to most of the MLAs and ministers to duck anti-incumbency trend. In most of the constituencies where I went, I found a strong undercurrent of anti-incumbency. They saw the writing on the wall, and that's why they went in for an alliance. But despite the alliance, they are bound to lose," he said.

Shah said the SP-Congress alliance has been forged only to fool the voters.

"In the first and second phases of polling, the two parties are locked in friendly contests in 12 seats, like Lucknow Central. The people of UP are politically aware and they can see through this game," he said.

Shah denied the charge levelled by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav that he engineered a quarrel in the family.

Mulayam had alleged that his cousin Ramgopal Yadav had met the BJP chief at least four times.

"I want to make it clear that I have never met Ramgopalji. I have nothing to do with their family wrangling.

Why should we break the SP?" he posed.

Asked why his party gave tickets to relatives of senior leaders, Shah replied, "Giving tickets to sons of leaders who toil on their own is not dynastic politics".

"By dynastic politics, I mean, only son Akhilesh can succeed Mulayam Singh as chief minister. Dynastic politics means Farooq Abdullah's son Omar Abdullah can become the CM.

Nobody in the Congress, except those from Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, had the 'capability' to head the party since 1967.

"After Nehru came Indira Gandhi, who tried to bring in Sanjay Gandhi, but he died, and she brought Rajiv Gandhi.

After Rajiv's death, Rahul had to wait because he was not of age. Manmohan Singh was made PM in between, but what sort of PM he was, everybody knows," Shah said.