Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, with his ally Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Choudhary by his side, took a dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the ruling BJP on multiple issues. Making a prediction for the party, Akhilesh said, “Looking at anger among the people, BJP can even lose 400 seats. They will be wiped out in the western UP.”
BJP swept to power in 2017 with 312 of the state’s 403 seats.
Ripping apart the BJP claims of development, Yadav has lately accused the BJP of stealing credit for projects that started during the Samajwadi Party rule. He also cited a recent headline from Bijnore that has raised many a chuckle in the state.
“The older tradition was — hit the coconut on the road and the coconut breaks. The new tradition they have started is hit the coconut on ground and the ground must break,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of a rally in Mathura attended by thousands.
During a traditional inauguration earlier this month by Suchi Mausam Chaudhary, the BJP MLA from Bijnor Sadar, bits of a 7-km road, renovated at a cost of ₹ 1.16 crore, came off when struck by a coconut.
Their sharpest barbs were however reserved for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In his address, Yadav had spoken of the BJP “misrule” in terms of jobs, education development and farmers’ issues. Asked about his remark that the “Baba (Yogi Adityanath) just sits in Gorakhpur and rings a bell (while all this is happening),” would be received by the state’s Hindu voters, Jayant Chaudhary spoke up. “Adityanath is not a symbol of Hindu unity, he can be questioned,” Chaudhary said. “This is not an issue about Hindu pride but issues like unemployment. Adityanath said he will give 70 lakh jobs. Today, their own posters say they have given only four lakh jobs,” he added.
Akhilesh Yadav had other questions. “The Chief Minister should answer whether the man sitting in the jeep that mowed down farmers (in Lakhimpur Kheri) was the Union Home Minister’s son or not… Yogi must answer how many cases were against him that he removed himself after becoming the Chief Minister,” he added.
