New Delhi [India], Oct. 26 : The president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Keshav Prasad Maurya, on Wednesday said both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are politically weaker than the BJP, and if the elections take place today, they would suffer crushing defeats.

"I believe that both the SP and the BSP are weaker than the BJP and a delay in the election is only harming the state. Neither the SP nor the BSP cares for the state; they have only plundered it after coming to power, which the people of the state understand very well. If elections take place today, then both the SP and the BSP will be defeated badly," Maurya told ANI.

When asked about the bickering among the Yadavs and its impact on the state, he said "Although it is family infighting, the state is bearing the brunt; and that is why we can only make an appeal to the people to free the state from the grip of people who capture land, break law and order, give patronage to 'gundaraj' and divide people for power, whether it is the SP or the BSP."

"It is an imperative for the development that the state, that it is freed from the clutches of both the SP and the BSP by installing a BJP government in 2017. This will ensure that UP can develop the way other BJP-ruled states are progressing," he added.

Meanwhile SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav has said the party's Rajya Sabha MP and close aide Amar Singh will not be removed from the party, nor does he give any value to Ramgopal Yadav's opinion. He said the party is one and the family is one.

Mulayam also said persons hatching conspiracies within the party are not in a position to get even ten votes.

When asked about who would be the SP's chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 polls, Mulayam Singh said the party has to first win the elections, and thereafter the chief minister will be announced and elected democratically.

Incumbent Chief Minister and Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav, however, continues to remain adamant about having a decisive say in ticket distribution and ensuring the respectful return of Ramgopal Yadav and youth leaders to the party. (ANI)