The Azad Samaj Party announced on Thursday that its chief, Chandrashekhar Azad, would contest the Uttar Pradesh elections from Gorakhpur, from where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is standing.
Chandrashekhar Azad founded the Azad Samaj Party in 2020 and positioned it as a proponent of Ambedkarite values. He had come to prominence with his outfit the Bhim Army, which stood for dalit causes.
The ASP announced on Thursday Chandrashekhar Azad would contest the polls to further B.R. Ambedkar's motto of Bahujan Hitay, Bahujan Sukhay (welfare and happiness of dalits), Republic TV reported.
Chandrashekhar Azad had previously said he would contest against Yogi Adityanath. Adityanath had been MP for Gorakhpur five consecutive times, but this is the first time he is fighting an assembly election.
On Tuesday, the Azad Samaj Party declared it would not tie up with the Samajwadi Party, even if Akhilesh Yadav offered 100 seats.
Chandrashekhar Azad said his party is open to stitching an alliance with others and maintained that his fight has always been with the RSS and the BJP. The party had said last week that efforts were being made to form a third front of several opposition parties, apparently after disagreement over seat sharing with the Samajwadi Party.
“I have made it clear. The time was till today (Tuesday) for the leader whom I had approached for an alliance to stop the BJP. I announce this today that we are not going with them (SP). Now, even if they offer us 100 seats, we will not tie-up with them because it's a matter of self-respect,” Chandrashekhar Azad had said.
