Smarting under the defeat in the Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls, Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Singh Yadav today said he was ready to accept any challenge thrown at him by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“I have not challenged anybody but if I am challenged, I will accept it,” he said when asked if he was daring Rahul Gandhi politically, who is being credited for Raj Babbar’s victory here in the Lok Sabha bypoll.

Addressing a press conference alongwith his wife Dimple Yadav, who lost to Babbar, Yadav said: “I accept the challenge thrown at us by the ‘Yuvraj’ of the Congress. The Congress has won the electoral battle in Firozabad but my party and the people of the state will give a befitting reply to the Congress.”

“It is erroneous to believe that the charisma of Rahul Gandhi worked wonders in Firozabad, it’s arrogance on part of the Congress to think that the campaign by its ‘Yuvraj’ made the difference here,” the state president of the SP said.

Considering that the Congress has won only one out of 11 Assembly seats which went to polls in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav said: “If the charisma of Rahul was so captivating for the youth and the masses, then why the Congress lost its sitting Assembly seats of Jhansi and Padrauna and other eight Assembly seats.”

“The Congress managed to win the Lucknow (West) Assembly seat only due to the rebellion by BJP MP Lalji Tandon and his tacit support to the Congress,” claimed Yadav.

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