Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, visited Varanasi for the first time since his party's decisive victory in the recent Legislative Council (MLC) elections, using the occasion to mock the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and promise a metro network for the holy city if SP returns to power in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The visit carried added political weight given that Varanasi is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own Lok Sabha constituency.

Grand Airport Welcome and Sharp Barbs at BJP

Akhilesh Yadav was received with a high-energy reception by party workers, supporters, and volunteers at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, who raised slogans celebrating his leadership. Wasting no time, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister fired an opening salvo at the ruling party, declaring that Banaras will smile only when the BJP is gone. He described the SP's MLC wins as a message of 'double defeat' delivered by the people of Kashi to the BJP.

'Those who spoke of a double engine and double-speed development have been handed double defeat and double zero by the people of Banaras,' he told reporters mockingly, in a pointed inversion of BJP's flagship 'double engine government' slogan.

MLC Election Results: Context and Significance

The MLC election results saw SP nominees Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav win from the Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies, respectively — a notable outcome given that Varanasi sits at the heart of Modi's political base. Akhilesh Yadav said the results had 'exposed the reality behind BJP's tall claims' and argued that the ruling party's 'duplicity will be more visible in days to come.'

This comes amid a broader pattern of SP consolidating support in constituencies that BJP had previously treated as safe. The MLC polls, though limited in direct legislative impact, are widely read as a mood barometer ahead of the high-stakes 2027 assembly election.

Potholed Roads, Waterlogged Streets, and the Kyoto Jibe

Beyond the election rhetoric, Akhilesh Yadav trained his sights on what he called 'lawlessness' and urban decay under the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. He flagged the condition of Kashi's roads — potholed and waterlogged — and shared photographs of rain-inundated streets, framing them as evidence of broken development promises.

In a particularly sharp dig, he referenced BJP's aspiration to model Varanasi along the lines of the Japanese cultural city of Kyoto: 'If couldn't turn it into Kyoto, could have just put up a photo of Kyoto instead,' he reportedly said in a social media post, drawing derision at the government's urban development track record.

Metro Promise and the 2027 Road Ahead

On the policy front, Akhilesh Yadav pledged to build a metro network in Varanasi if the SP forms the next government in Uttar Pradesh after the 2027 assembly elections. The promise is aimed at positioning SP as the party of modern infrastructure for a city that has seen significant central investment under BJP but which, critics argue, lacks integrated urban mobility solutions.

With the 2027 election cycle now effectively underway, the Varanasi visit signals that SP intends to contest BJP's narrative on its home ground — and that Akhilesh Yadav sees the MLC results as a launchpad for a broader political offensive.