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‘Ribbon from Lucknow, scissors from Delhi’: Akhilesh Yadav targets Centre over Purvanchal Expressway
Workers of the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday morning began a symbolic inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway. The workers', riding on cycles, showered flowers as a mark of protest against the inauguration by PM Modi.
Hours before the inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav alleged on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre is trying to steal the credit for the work done by his party.
Workers of the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday morning began a symbolic inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway. The workers', riding on cycles, showered flowers as a mark of protest against the inauguration by PM Modi.
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"The ribbon came from Lucknow and the scissors came from New Delhi. There is a 'Khichham-Khichai' to take credit for the work of SP. It is hoped that till now the people of Lucknow sitting alone must have memorised the length of the 'Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway," Akhilesh Yadav's tweet, roughly translated from Hindi, read.
On Monday, Akhilesh accused the BJP of compromising on the quality of the Purvanchal Expressway to cut down its project cost and inaugurate it before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year.
"In a bid to make it cheap, there has been a compromise on its quality. To take credit ahead of the polls, the BJP is going to inaugurate the half-baked Purvanchal Expressway. There has been a compromise with the quality with which it should have been built," Yadav told reporters on Monday.
He pointed out that the foundation of the Purvanchal Expressway was laid during his Samajwadi Party's rule.
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The 341 kilometre-long expressway, constructed at the cost of about ₹22,500 crore, will be inaugurated by PM Modi at 1.30 pm. “This project brings with it multiple benefits for UP’s economic and social progress,” Modi tweeted on Monday.
The Purvanchal Expressway starts from village Chaudsarai in Lucknow located on Lucknow-Sultanpur road (NH-731) and ends at village Hydaria located on National Highway number 31. It will have 22 flyovers, 7 railway-over-bridges (ROB), 7 major bridges, 114 minor bridges, 6 toll plazas, 45 vehicular-underpasses (VUP), 139 Light VUP, 87 pedestrian underpasses and 525 box culverts.
