Akhilesh alleges land scam in Ayodhya by BJP, govt officials
Usually, no one can dare to look at land that is used by the defence, but now BJP has sold the land used for a firing range, says SP chief
LUCKNOW Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday accused the BJP and government officials of involvement in a major land scam in Ayodhya, saying the ongoing land-related theft in the holy city was part of a broader pattern of corruption facilitated by those in power.
“Officials and BJP members are engaged in loot... there will be no development where there is theft. If they can commit such theft at a sacred place like Ayodhya, imagine how much more is happening in other districts of UP. I thank our party leaders for exposing the dark reality,” Yadav said addressing a press conference here.
“They increased the circle rate once the plots were bought by their own people. We have registry copies of all officials who bought plots. Usually, no one can dare to look at land that is used by the defence, but now BJP has sold the land used for firing range. In order to take revenge from people of Ayodhya, they even changed the railway alignment, which previously did not affect the land of the poor or their businesses. The SP stands with the people of Ayodhya. We will make Ayodhya a world class city when our party comes to power in 2027... will give compensation above from the circle rate to people of Ayodhya,” said Yadav.
On chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s statement that the SP and Akhilesh Yadav were looking for caste and ‘PDA’ in criminals...the SP chief said: “There is not much difference between a mathadheesh and a mafia.”
Speaking to the media, former minister in the erstwhile SP government, Pawan Pandey, who also hails from Ayodhya, said, “After the Supreme Court’s decision, there has been loot and black marketing of plots in Ayodhya at the behest of BJP people. There was a land reserved for military firing practise in Ayodhya, but unfortunately plotting is being done on it by BJP people while some big industrialists have been given land there. People are surprised how land used for military firing practise has been sold to industrialists. BJP leader Ved Prakash Gupta and former MLC CP Shukla have bought many plots in Ayodhya.”
“Political leaders and officers have become property leaders in Ayodhya. The use of land has been changed. Before 2024 Lok Sabha elections, there was a proposal for a new railway line in Ayodhya and not many houses were coming in the way of it. After the BJP lost the election in Ayodhya, the course of the proposed railway line has been changed and now around 200-250 houses, shops, etc. are coming in its way,” alleged Pandey.
He added, “There is a Baba who had taken land from Dalits...there was an order to register case against him but nothing was done. Instead, some senior officials took land from the Baba (Mahesh Jogi) and changed the course of the new railway line. I have all papers that prove the loot by big industrialists in Ayodhya.”
Meanwhile, SP leader of opposition in UP Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey said, “Poor people are caught by the police...their hands are tied up and then they are shot in the leg and the police claims they have done an encounter. Only poor are shot in encounters, but surprisingly no one from the police gets hurt in encounters.”
BJP has made UP an encounter capital, says Akhilesh
Akhilesh Yadav also hit out at the BJP government over the alleged encounters in the state, saying a “pattern has been set.”
“A pattern of encounters has been set under BJP rule: pick someone first, then make up a story of a fake encounter, then show fake pictures to the world, then after the murder, when the family members tell the truth, pressurise them with various kinds of pressure and temptations....” the SP chief stated in a post on X.
“Today, atrocities are at an all-time high in the state. Everyone knows that all encounters are fake and everyone knows Mangesh Yadav (Sultanpur encounter) was picked up from his house by STF people. Interestingly, the police official wore a slipper during the encounter. The BJP has made UP a capital of fake encounters. If they had brains, they wouldn’t have done encounters while wearing slippers.”
No one knew BSP was going to call off alliance: SP chief
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said no one had any clue that the 2019 SP-BSP alliance was coming apart and that he had dialled the BSP chief Mayawati to know why the tie-up ended.
He was replying to a query on media reports about a booklet being given to Bahujan Samaj Party workers in which it was written that 2019 alliance between SP and BSP was called off after Akhilesh stopped taking calls.
The SP chief said, “The moment BSP called off the alliance after 2019, I was in Azamgarh and some BSP people were also there on the stage. No one knew this was coming...”
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