‘Lord Krishna must be cursing…’: Yogi Adityanath responds to Akhilesh Yadav

Without naming his predecessor, the UP chief minister said that the deity must have told those having dreams, that all the work in the state was done by the BJP government.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday responded to his predecessor, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav's remarks on Lord Krishna, as the deity continued to feature prominently in the run-up to next month's assembly elections in the state.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath (FILE PHOTO)

“Some people are sitting in Lucknow and seeing Lord Krishna in their dreams. He must be telling them to at least now cry on their failures, saying that the work that they failed to do, was done by the BJP government,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said at a public rally, without naming his closest challenger.

“Lord Krishna must be cursing these people. He must have also told them that when they came to power, they did nothing for places such as Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Gokul etc.” Adityanath further said, referring to holy cities linked with the deity.

The previous dispensation, the chief minister said, was not bothered about Lord Krishna, but, in fact, worshipped His maternal uncle, Kamsa, whom He slayed.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Harnath Singh Yadav was the first to invoke Lord Krishna in the battle for Uttar Pradesh, as he wrote to party chief JP Nadda suggesting that the chief minister should contest the upcoming polls from Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna.

The MP's suggestion came after Adityanath, last Saturday, announced that he will contest the elections, though he did not say which constituency he will be candidate from.

Responding to this ‘idea’, Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday that Lord Krishna comes in his dreams as well, telling him that the Samajwadi Party will form the next government in the country's most populous state.

The ruling BJP and the SP, its primary opposition, are said to be locked in a tight contest to win the UP polls. In 2017, the BJP dethroned the SP by winning 312 seats in the 403-member assembly. The Yadav-led party, which won 224 seats five years prior, finished with a tally of just 47.