Months before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, a war of words erupted between chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday.
After Yadav referred to him as “baba” at an event earlier in the day, Adityanath took a swipe at the SP chief over his constant attacks on the government on social media, saying “Babua, ye Twitter hi vote bhi de dega (This Twitter will give you votes).”
Yadav was speaking at an event in Lucknow when he targeted the chief minister. “Baba mukhya mantri should not contest an assembly seat, he is already on his way out,” the former chief minister said.
The SP leader often refers to Adityanath as “baba”, an apparent reference to the latter’s position as chief priest of Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur.
Hours later, at an event in the SP chief’s home district Etawah, the chief minister spoke on how the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party always stood by the people during the Covid-19 pandemic while the opposition attacked the state government on social media.
“I had come here (Etawah) twice during the Covid pandemic. The people of other parties were in home isolation when you were in a crisis. They should be confined to their homes even during the polls… Tell them, ‘Babua, ye Twitter hi vote bhi de dega’,” he said.
Babua was a term frequently used by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, to hit out at Yadav, during the 2012 UP assembly polls. At that time, Yadav often used to refer to Mayawati as ‘bua’ (paternal aunt).
{{/usCountry}}Babua was a term frequently used by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, to hit out at Yadav, during the 2012 UP assembly polls. At that time, Yadav often used to refer to Mayawati as ‘bua’ (paternal aunt).
{{/usCountry}}Neither Mayawati nor Akhilesh uses the terms ‘babua’ and ‘bua’ for each other anymore.
The chief minister also hit out at the SP leader for frequently accusing him and his party of “re-laying foundation stones and inaugurating or re-inaugurating projects of previous SP government”.