Farmers Movement Archive

Akhilesh Yadav predicts a repeat of Uttarakhand in Uttar Pradesh ahead of polls

The Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Thursday that Uttar Pradesh may see a repeat of the recent developments in Uttarakhand, where the Bharatiya Janata Party replaced its chief minister a year before assembly elections following dissent against his leadership. He also accused UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath of claiming credit for the work done by the SP government in the past."The image of the chief minister taking a selfie on Wednesday has been splashed in newspapers and social media. The project seen in the background is the SP government's project," claimed Akhilesh. Yogi Adityanath took a selfie at a dam project that he inaugurated in Chitrakoot on Wednesday.Akhilesh Yadav’s pot shots at CM Yogi Adityanath came during a press conference in Moradabad, ahead of the bicycle rally he is scheduled to flag off on Friday in the neighbouring Rampur. The SP is taking out the bicycle rally from Rampur to Lucknow in support of party's Rampur MP, Azam Khan, who is currently in jail in connection with the cases filed against him over alleged anomalies in institution and operation of Maulana Jauhar University, Rampur."Even the jobs that the BJP government claimed to have provided were the ones created in the previous government's tenure," Akhilesh said while building on this theme.Taking about the three new Central farm laws, Akhilesh said, “The laws will ruin small, medium farmers and agricultural labourers."Yadav indicated that his party would not ally with his uncle Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) for UP Assembly polls 2022.Also Read: BJP launches rural-connect drive ahead of UP panchayat polls"Samajwadi Party's experience with big political parties has not been good. We will not ally with any big political parties. We will take smaller parties on board," he said, but when asked about Shivpal Yadav and his PSP-L, he quipped, "Yes, indeed his party is small. Samajwadi Party will ally with small parties but not with those that have any BJP link."There was a scuffle involving security staff of Akhilesh Yadav and some local journalists after SP president's press conference (PC) in Moradabad. At least two journalists were reported to have suffered minor injuries in the incident."The incident occurred when some people obstructed the exit after the press conference. The matter was resolved shortly," said superintendent of police (city), Moradabad, Amit Kumar Anand.

Hindustan Times

12-03-2021

Lucknow