This is an election for change, says Akhilesh

Lucknow, April 18 (IANS) Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said on Thursday that the ongoing Lok Sabha polls were an "election for change".

"Our Mahagathbandhan is an alliance of three parties (SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal) but the BJP is with 38 parties and this is an adulterated alliance," he said while addressing a rally after filing his nomination papers from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat.

He was accompanied by his party leaders Naresh Uttam and Abu Asim and BSP leader Satish Chandra Misra during the nomination.

Striking an emotional chord, Akhilesh Yadav said that his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav always considered Azamgarh his second home. "And I have come to my home," he said.

Azamgarh was won by Mulayam Singh in 2014 but now he has opted to contest from Mainpuri, which he had also won in 2014 but subsequently quit.

Attacking Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh Yadav said: "Our Chief Minister is a 'thokidar' - he always asks the police to 'thoko' (eliminate) criminals. A BJP MP recently hit his own party leaders with his shoes 12 times. We are here to take away the 'chowki' of these 'chowkidars' and 'thokidars'."

In a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that industrialists had run away from the country, taking away Rs 36,000 crore of the common man and the "chowkidar" has done nothing about it.

Listing the developmental work done by his government included the Lucknow Metro and the Agra expressway, he said: "When we return to power, we will build the promised Purvanchal Expressway."