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Akhilesh-Jayant vs Yogi in west UP battleground
UP assembly elections 2022: The BJP and SP-RLD alliance focussed their respective campaigns in the battleground region of western Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
Meerut: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP)-led alliance focussed their campaign in the battleground region of western Uttar Pradesh on Friday, clashing on farm welfare and communalism in their bid to galvanise support three weeks before assembly elections.
The day began on an acrimonious note when SP chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that his helicopter was held up at Delhi airport and not allowed to proceed to an election event in Muzaffarnagar because of a BJP conspiracy, a claim rejected by the ruling party.
Later, Yadav and his ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary, addressed a joint press conference in Muzaffarnagar and stressed on their farm roots, saying the welfare of cultivators was always their aim.
“This UP election is for the future of farmers, youth and people should defeat negative forces in order to keep the ‘Ganga-Jamuni’ culture alive,” said Yadav, adding that the RLD-SP alliance will achieve a spectacular victory because people had made up their mind for change.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressed gatherings in Meerut, Hastinapur and Hapur, enumerating the government’s welfare schemes and praising his administration’s efforts in controlling the pandemic and pushing vaccination. He also attacked the Opposition without naming anyone.
“They are worshippers of Jinnah, we are worshippers of Sardar Patel. Pakistan is dear to them, we will sacrifice our life for Maa Bharati (Mother India),” Adityanath said in a tweet in Hindi.
In another tweet, Adityanath said, “When they were [in power]... devotees of Ram were fired upon, Kanwar Yatras were cancelled. Exploits like Safai Mahotsav took place. We are [in power]... the dream of Sri Ram Lala Virajman came true. Flowers were showered from a helicopter on Kanwariyas, Deepotsav and Rangotsav became the identity of Uttar Pradesh.” He was referring to the police firing on kar sevaks in Ayodhya when SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister in 1990.
Elections in Uttar Pradesh begin on February 10 in 58 seats in the western part of the state. The state will vote in seven phases and the results will be out on March 10.
The 143 seats in the western part of the state are crucial to determining whether the BJP can retain power or if the SP-led alliance will help continue the state’s recent history of voting out incumbents. The region, which was roiled by farm protests against three central laws that were finally repealed last November, had backed the BJP in the 2014 and 2019 general elections and the 2017 assembly polls. But the SP-RLD alliance, buoyed by the tens of thousands of people who showed up at their mahapanchayats against the farm laws, hopes to reverse the BJP’s gains by leveraging farm ire.
At the press conference, Yadav and Chaudhary made a slew of promises to farmers, saying they’ll make a corpus for cultivators to ensure quick payments, and ensure free electricity for irrigation, quick payments for sugarcane farmers and purchase of crops at minimum support prices.
“Both of us are sons of farmers and will continue to fight till the last breath for their rights,” Yadav said.He added that he was two hours late because his helicopter was not allowed to fly on time from Delhi.
“I was in the chopper for over two hours... I am hoping that Election Commission looks into it... If someone has to go for a rally, how will they work if their chopper is stopped for so long...seems like BJP will do anything before polls,” he said.
Both of them asked farmers to be wary of the BJP, reminded them of the yearlong protests against the three laws and said if the SP-RLD came to power, they’d never implement the “black laws”.
“Our confluence had taken place much earlier. We want UP to develop and have forged the alliance as we want to take the fight of Chaudhary Charan Singh ahead,” Chaudhary said, invoking his grandfather, a former prime minister who was also the tallest farm leader of the region.
The BJP dismissed Yadav’s allegation about the chopper. “None needs to stop you Akhilesh ji. People are ready to stop you as they did in 2014, in 2017 and in 2019 poll,” said deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
The Muzaffarnagar press conference came two days after Union home minister Amit Shah met 200 Jat leaders and asked them to support the BJP. Shah also appeared to make an overture to the RLD and said that Chaudhary had chosen the wrong “home” and the possibility of post-poll arrangements was open. The RLD has rebuffed the offer.
Earlier in the day speaking in Meerut, Adityanath said his government inoculated 99% of the state against Covid and due to the large-scale immunisation, the effect of the third wave was mild.
The chief minister also said the state had sufficient availability of oxygen after 551 oxygen plants were set up across UP. Of the 29 oxygen plants established in Meerut, 28 were functioning, he added. “I hope life will return to normalcy in the coming few days,” he said.
Later, addressing a gathering in Hastinapur, the chief minister detailed the welfare schemes of the central and the state governments. He said the expressway between Meerut and Delhi had reduced travel time from four hours to 40 minutes. He also said the country’s first rapid rail project worth ₹30,000 crore was also under way to connect Meerut and the Capital.
He said payment of ₹1.56 lakh crore in sugarcane dues was made during the BJP administration and spoke about the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
