Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar  said that Samajwadi Party allies have pledged to make Akhilesh Yadav the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

He further said that the list of candidates of the SP-led alliance will be released in a phased manner.

My party will not contest in the first and second phases, Rajbhar added.

This statement from the SBSP president comes after the crucial strategy meeting called by SP ahead of the scheduled Assembly elections.

SP has allied with smaller parties for the 2022 polls and has finalised an alliance with RLD, SBSP, Mahan Dal, Janwadi Party (Socialist).

On Tuesday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said it would contest the ensuing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as part of the SP-led alliance with Sharad Pawar saying that the people of Uttar Pradesh are looking for a change in the northern state.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has expressed confidence that his party would defeat the BJP in the upcoming polls.

On Tuesday, he said that the state’s people consider his party as an alternative to the BJP and in this assembly polls, they will wipe out the saffron party.

Accusing the BJP of betraying farmers and youths, the former UP CM said that people of the state will wipe it out in the assembly polls and form the SP’s government.

The seven-phase Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly polls will be held between February 10 and March 7. The polling dates in Uttar Pradesh are February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7.

The counting of votes in all states will take place on March 10.

In the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party had bagged 312 seats out of the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly while Samajwadi Party (SP) got 47 seats, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) won 19 and Congress could manage to win only seven seats. The remaining seats were bagged by other candidates.