The state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party said that despite elections being five months away, the ruling Samajwadi Party has conceded defeat by admitting that ‘the SP was a sinking ship and legislators leaving the party were rats’.

“The statement of a senior SP minister that ‘rats flee first from a sinking ship’ is a clear pointer to what serving ministers think about the party’s fate in the elections,” state BJP general Secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said on Tuesday.

While commenting on exodus of law makers of SP, BSP and Congress to the BJP, Minority Affairs minister Mohammad Azam Khan had recently said that ‘rats flee first from a sinking ship’. 

“It is now clear that the ruling SP has conceded defeat. Despite this, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is putting up a brave face and talking about development of state. Pathak saidthat while Yadav still believes that with he would return to power, his ministers feel that the SP is a sinking ship.

The BJP leader said that how can the CM claim development of the state when his ministers splurge over Rs 8.70 crore on refreshments. “This regime does not have money for the poor but has enough money to splurge on chai and samosa,” he said.

Pathak further said that SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had expressed how corrupt ministers of the Akhilesh government have become a burden for the party. 

“The SP chief has also given enough indications that the party would not return to power due to the corruption and failure of the government to address peoples’ issues,” he said.

The BJP leader questioned what will Akhilesh Yadav do on the statements made by his ‘chaacha’ (Shivpal Yadav) and ‘chachcha’(Azam Khan). While Shivpal had threatened to resign for being ignored by the state officials, Azam has said that the SP  is now a sinking ship.

“It seems as SP is almost out of the race in the UP polls and the BSP was fighting to maintain its core base,” Pathak claimed.