Mumbai, March 15 Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed that the BJP will lose the West Bengal assembly elections next month, expressing confidence that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will remain the chief minister.
Speaking to reporters here, Yadav confirmed the Samajwadi Party's support for the INDI bloc partners in four states, including Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, where assembly elections will be held in April.
"We are seeking a seat in Assam, and even if that doesn't happen, we will support the INDI allies," he said.
Assam and Kerala will go to the polls on April 9, while elections will be held in two phases in West Bengal on April 23 and 29, and Tamil Nadu on April 23.
Yadav urged the Election Commission of India to ensure free and fair elections and to prevent it from becoming a puppet in the hands of the Central government.
He lauded the voters of West Bengal for supporting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and said that the people will not forget the discrimination or mismanagement by the Central government.
The BJP wants a "respectful defeat" in the West Bengal assembly polls, he claimed, adding that the people of the eastern state are politically aware and Mamata Banerjee will return as the chief minister.
The SP leader claimed that the "bulldozer driver" will change in Uttar Pradesh, and he will replace Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister.
He further said that if the Samajwadi Party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, it will develop a 1,000-acre park at Etawah dedicated to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
"We have a long relationship with the Maratha emperor," he said, adding that his government had planned a museum in Agra in memory of Shivaji, but the BJP did not allow it.
"We dream of an Uttar Pradesh, where its natives don't need to move out to look for livelihood, but which instead attracts residents from other states with job opportunities," he said.
In a lighter vein, Yadav said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have made a stopover in Iran on his way back from his visit to Israel last month, and that he missed an opportunity to prevent the ongoing war in West Asia and become a "vishwaguru".