Bhim Army to contest independently on 33 seats in UP Assembly polls

After facing a failure in building up alliances with Samajwadi Party, Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad announced at a press conference held in Greater Noida on Tuesday that his party will be contesting the elections independently.

New Delhi/Noida:After facing a failure in building up alliances with Samajwadi Party, Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad announced on Tuesday that his party will be contesting the elections independently. Azad also announced names of 33 seats in which Bhim Army will field its candidates during a press conference held in Greater Noida.

"We are fighting for change and will fight honestly. We will give full strength to stop BJP", Azad said.

The disappointment of the former after being unable to form an alliance with SP was visibly captured after he took a jibe at SP president Akhilesh Yadav. "He has reversed his words, he cheats, and now even if the Samajwadi Party gives us 100 seats, we will not go.

"Bhim Army has fought on the road on every issue and I have never compromised on my self-respect. We will now contest elections in Uttar Pradesh. The SP alliance is hollow without Dalits", Azad said.

Significantly, he also made it clear that his party will not be fielding any candidates against backward class leaders Swami Prasad Maurya and Omprakash Rajbhar. Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are scheduled to kick off on February 10 and will be held through a total of seven phases till March 7.