Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out any tie-up for the Uttar Pradesh election next year. (File photo)
Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav has shared a 2 min 19-second promotional video on Twitter, the first campaign theme for the party and for Mr Yadav this election season, with just months to go before the crucial 2022 assembly polls.
Mr Yadav shared the video song with the tagline "Sukh dukh main saath nibhaaya hai, sukh dukh main saath nibhaayenge" (have been with you through joy and sorrow and will continue to do so).
A major part of the video publicizes various schemes launched by Akhilesh when he was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister between 2012-17.
At least 30 seconds of the video talks about the devastating effect of the second wave of the Covid pandemic in the state between April and May - visuals of queues outside oxygen refilling centers, and TV headlines about bodies of suspected Covid patients floating in the Ganga or buried in shallow graves by the river.
Mr Yadav has ruled out any tie-up for the Uttar Pradesh election next year. "My experience with big parties is not good, I will not get into any alliance with them," Akhilesh Yadav told NDTV in an exclusive interview last week.
Instead, the Samajwadi Party chief said, his party would join forces with like-minded smaller parties.
The former Chief Minister also predicted the BJP's defeat and accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of blocking development, and encouraging corruption and oppression during his rule. People now want change, he said.
"Those who want to defeat the BJP, I appeal to them to help the Samajwadi Party," Mr Yadav said.
Days later, Mr Yadav's arch-rival and BSP Chief Mayawati announced her party will go solo in Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand state polls, to be held early next year.
The BSP chief also denied reports that her party will join hands with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM in the state.
"This news is being broadcast in a media news channel since yesterday that the AIMIM and BSP will fight the upcoming assembly elections in UP together. This news is completely false, misleading and baseless. There is not even an iota of truth in this and the BSP vehemently denies it," Mayawati tweeted.