BJP, SP trade barbs over inauguration of Kushinagar International Airport

Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh engaged in a war of words over credit for developing Kushinagar International Airport months before crucial assembly elections

Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) traded barbs over the inauguration of the Kushinagar International Airport on Wednesday.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP didn’t contribute “even a brick” for the foundation of Kushinagar International Airport, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)

SP leader Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP was taking credit for the project, whose groundwork was done when he was the chief minister from 2012 to 2017. “..they didn’t even put a brick for the foundation …came to inaugurate a project inaugurated during Samajwadi Party (SP) rule...,” Yadav tweeted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the airport.

“BJP leaders must remember that merely becoming a pilot does not mean you own the plane...”

BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak hit back. “Why are you so sad?.... When work has been done by Modi ji and (chief minister) Yogi (Adityanath) ji, then, of course, inauguration too would be done by them....” he said in his tweet.

State BJP chief Swatantra Dev said the Kushinagar airport project reflected the clear vision of the state’s all-around development.