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UP polls: Yogi attacks Samajwadi Party in its stronghold
Alleging that the Etawah-Mainpuri belt had become notorious during the previous regime due to poor law order, Yogi claimed the situation had improved during the BJP rule statewide
Once again calling the Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders “tamanchawadi” and “parivaarwadi”, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday hit out at the main opposition party in its stronghold in Mainpuri district from where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting his first assembly election in Karhal during the current UP polls.
Alleging that the Etawah-Mainpuri belt had become notorious during the previous regime due to poor law order, Yogi claimed the situation had improved during the BJP rule statewide.
In Mainpuri , which goes to the polls in the third phase on February 20, Yogi Adityanath asked for votes in support of BJP candidates, including union minister of state SP Singh Baghel, who is the party nominee against the Samajwadi Party president in Karhal.
“This region with the districts Etawah and Mainpuri had become infamous because of the deteriorating law and order situation during the Samajwadi Party regime in Uttar Pradesh. Tamanchawadis (those wielding country made pistols) were in power and the mafia was calling the shots and encroaching on land, committing crime. Anybody complaining faced fake cases,” said Yogi Adityanath, who reached Mainpuri at 2.30pm after being part of a rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the UP polls at Akbarpur in Kanpur Dehat.
“Naam Samajwadi, kaam tamanchwadi, soch pariwarwadi ,” Yogi said, targeting the Yadav family and questioned as to why other deserving leaders were not allowed to the rise in the Samajwadi Party.
“Why was it that all MLAs and MPs of the Samajwadi Party used to come from one family only. This was because of the dynastic pattern in the SP,” he alleged.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is the MP from Mainpuri, which has four assembly seats. The SP had won three of these assembly seats in 2017 while the BJP bagged Bhongaon, whose MLA Ram Naresh Agnihotri is a minister in the Yogi cabinet now.
“Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is most worried whenever the word ‘bulldozer’ is used because it unearthed the hidden money stored by his ‘itrawala mitra’ (perfume selling friend). We have one hand on vikas (development) and the other on the bulldozer levers,” Yogi said.
“The first thing Akhilesh Yadav did after coming to power in 2012 was to withdraw cases against terrorists and criminals. The common man had tough time but it all changed with year 2014 when the nation got a leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Yogi Adityanath said.
“There used to be riots before festivals, curfew was imposed and UP had become notorious during the SP regime. They failed to provide electricity because darkness suits criminals. But our government organised Kanwar Yatra, constituted anti-Romeo squads, waived farmers’ loans and provided ration under the double engine regime,” Yogi asserted.
Targeting Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister reminded the public as to how the SP leader had termed Covid vaccine as ‘BJP vaccine’.
“Vote for those who saved your lives and give a suitable reply to those misled you on vaccine,” Yogi said.
“We will give tablets and smartphones to two crore youngsters. The distribution was on but SP leaders complained to Election Commission, putting a hurdle. The BJP won one assembly seat in (Mainpuri district) in 2017 and the party MLA was made a minister. If all four go to the BJP this time, development will flow,” he said.
He hoped that a healthy voting percentage in the second phase was a good sign and will pave the way for double engine regime led by BJP.
Earlier, in Akbarpur, he lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and said it led to the country’s development and welfare of the poor and farmers’ happiness.
“You (people) have supported the BJP and gave us a majority in the 2017 assembly elections. After 2017, you must have observed that the law and order situation has improved in Uttar Pradesh, and women now feel safe here. No riots take place in UP,” the chief minister said.
“The kanwar yatras go on smoothly, no one can dare to touch or create trouble,” he said.
He claimed there were instances of discrimination in welfare schemes under the previous regime.
“If any government disrespects the views of the public, distributes government scheme by looking at their faces, discriminates on caste, creed and religion, there can be no greater mockery of democracy than this,” he said.
Later, Yogi Adityanath took the ‘garmi’ jibe yet again and this time took referred to ‘hing’ (asafoetida), for which Hathras is known.
He was addressing a public gathering in Hathras district later in the day on Monday.
“Hing not only provides garmi (heat) in cold weather, but also removes garmi. As such, garmi would be removed after March 10 (the day the poll results are declared) for those crawling out of their hideouts and issuing threats these days,” he said in Hathras, which goes to polls in the third phase on February 20.
The chief minister often took the “garmi nikal denge” (will remove heat) swipe during rallies in the first phase of the election.
In response, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had questioned if the chief minister is a “compressor” used to remove heat.
