Not demoralised by leaders leaving party: Akhilesh

Lucknow: His party hit by many desertions in the past few days but Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that this was good as those who left made him aware of "who was loyal and with the party in its bad times". Addressing party workers on Raksha Bandhan, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also said that anyone in the party who felt like leaving and joining other parties should do so without offering any feeble excuse. SP has lost three members of the legislative council in the past few days, all of whom have joined the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Telling party workers not to lose hope and be demoralized but rather restart the party's campaign to be with the people, women, youth and those facing troubles, Akhilesh Yadav reminded them that a lot of leaders had also joined the party recently. He also took pot shots at the BJP for taking in the likes of Bukkal Nawab, someone who not long ago was being labelled by them as a land shark. Akhilesh Yadav also added that he would not stop anyone from leaving the party as some leaders were working with ulterior motives and hinted that it was good riddance in a way. The SP has been out of luck after its humiliating defeat in the March 2017 state assembly elections. While the party's tally plummeted to an all time low of 47 in a house of 403 as it split between Akhilesh Yadav on one side and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Singh on the other, many district leaders and other office bearers have left and there was open cross voting from party legislators in the presidential elections.