E-Paper
‘BJP will be wiped out’: Akhilesh Yadav holds rally on Purvanchal Expressway
Yadav has been claiming that the 341-km-long expressway was initiated by the SP when it was in power in the state.
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday held a ‘Vijay Rath Yatra’ on the Purvanchal Expressway, a day after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and promised to “wipe out the BJP” in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections.
Yadav has been claiming that the 341-km-long expressway was initiated by the SP when it was in power in the state.
Alleging that the expressway was incomplete, he said: “This expressway, (which has been inaugurated), is incomplete. Samajwadis saw the dream of building this (Purvanchal) expressway in order that the travel time between Ghazipur in UP and Delhi reduces. But this expressway is not reducing the distance (travel time between Ghazipur in eastern UP and Delhi).It was to be an expressway of prosperity. They couldn’t make a better road than this road in the entire country.”
Also read | Akhilesh Yadav promises to develop markets for farmers along Purvanchal Expressway
“Through this expressway, work to strengthen the economy of rural areas will be done. Mandis were supposed to come up near this but they did not. After the SP comes to power, work will be done to set up mandis for farmers and create means of employment generation for the youths along it,” he added.
The Purvanchal Expressway starts from village Chand Sarai in Lucknow district and ends at village Hydaria on National Highway number 31, 18 kilometres east of the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border, in Ghazipur. The key feature of the expressway is the 3.2-kilometre-long airstrip to enable landing and take-off of Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter planes in case of emergency. The six-lane expressway can be expanded to eight lanes in the future.
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said, “There will be a change in UP in 2022, for sure. I am watching a wave of change. I am confident that from this Ghaizpur (UP) to that Ghazipur (near Delhi border), BJP will be wiped out.”
“Ghazipur is the land of bravehearts and sacrifice. I salute all of you,” he said, addressing people from atop the rath (bus).
He asked the people to “remove the bulls and the bulldozers” which are running in the state. This remark appeared to be an indirect jibe at the problem of stray cattle and the Yogi Adityanath government’s drive against criminals and demolition of their unauthorised properties.
Appealing to the people, Akhilesh said, “In 2022, change the government which is changing names.”
It was a reference to the Yogi government having changed the names of Faizabad to Ayodhya and Allahabad to Prayagraj, besides renaming the Faizabad railway station as Ayodhya Cantt. At a function in SP chief’s Lok Sabha constituency Azamgarh on November 13, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said laying the foundation stone of a state university will turn Azamgarh into Aryamgarh in the true sense.
“There should be no doubt that this university will truly turn Azamgarh into Aryamgarh,” the chief minister had said. Union home minister Amit Shah had laid the foundation stone of the university.
Akhilesh Yadav also targeted the BJP on petrol and diesel prices, besides “rising unemployment”.
“These are the very people who had said that poor with slippers will travel by air. But the way the prices of diesel and petrol have gone up, riding a motorcycle has become difficult,” he said.
“Unemployed youths waited for jobs for five years. Where are the jobs? Will the youth not bring a change? All sections of the society, be it farmers, labourers and youths, are ready to bring a change in the state,” he said.
He also said the SP will hold a historic rally in Ghazipuri in future.
In an ostensible reference to a video on social media where PM Modi is seen in a vehicle surrounded by his security personnel in Sultanpur and Adityanath walking, Yadav said, “It was for the people to bring them on the road, but they themselves have started trodding down that path.”
The Samajwadi Party’s ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said SBSP has shut the door through which BJP came to power in 2017. The SBSP-led Bhagidari Sanklap Morcha, in alliance with the SP, will make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister of UP in 2022, he said.
Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav, along with Rajbhar, met noted vocalist Pandit Chhannu Lal Mishra at Lal Bahadur Shastri international airport, Varanasi, said SBSP state unit vice president Shashipratap Singh. Padma Vibhushan was conferred on Mishra recently.
