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‘Won’t find 4 to 3 ticket seekers’: Akhilesh Yadav attacks Shah, BJP

Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday tweeted to say that the BJP will find it difficult to find candidates to field in the upcoming assembly elections in the state

Updated on: Oct 30, 2021, 14:06:59 IST
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The Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party and Union home minister Amit Shah in the run up to the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and said that the saffron party was “unlikely” to find ticket-seeking candidates due to people’s “anger” against the ruling party.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav aslso launched a counter attack on Amit Shah on Saturday. (PTI Photo)
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav aslso launched a counter attack on Amit Shah on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

He also took a dig at Shah, who was busy meeting BJP leaders, office-bearers, and cadres in Lucknow on Saturday, over Union minister of state Ajay Mishra Teni’s presence in Shah’s rally yesterday.

“Even if the BJP announces 403 chief ministers in Uttar Pradesh, it will still not get even 4 to 3 ticket seekers considering the public anger against the party...How will the party get ticket seekers when it is visibly heading towards defeat. The public which is distressed because of the BJP will make it suffer for every vote...The BJP is finished,” Akhilesh tweeted on a day when 6 Bahujan Samaj Party and one BJP MLA switched over to the SP.

Amit Shah ask BJP workers to set a target of winning more than 300 of the 403 seats in the upcoming UP assembly polls. He had also made it clear that the incumbent chief minister Yogi Adityanath will be the chief minister if the party wins the elections. He also attacked opposition parties and leaders, especially Akhilesh Yadav and his poll-related activities. “Earlier mafia and criminals ruled the state, now when I look through ‘durbeen’ then I can’t see them anywhere in UP.” Shah had said, making a binocular gesture by curling his figures over his eyes.

Also Read | UP people suffering due to ‘loot’ of electricity bills: Priyanka Gandhi

Akhilesh launched a counter attack on Shah on Saturday and tweeted: “The search with the fake binocular was a drama while the culprit was right next (to Amit Shah)”. His comment seemed to be a reference to minister of state, Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, who was sharing the stage with Shah at a BJP event in the city.

Ajay Mishra is the father of Ashish Mishra, a top accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident in which eight persons including four farmers were killed.

  • Pankaj Jaiswal
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Pankaj Jaiswal

    Pankaj Jaiswal is Bureau Chief, Uttar Pradesh. He covers-analyses politics, and assists Hindustan Times reporters across the state. He has 30 years of experience in print media reporting. Based in Lucknow, he started his journalism career at a national English daily in Kanpur after graduating from Christ Church College. He joined Hindustan Times, Lucknow edition, as part of the launch team in 1997. He’s covered everything from rural distress to science, environment, wildlife, and crime. He has travelled extensively in Uttar Pradesh for rural, development, political, and election reporting. His continued interest in rural issues, rural distress, and development journalism has fetched him a handful of prestigious awards and fellowships. Pankaj is a photojournalist too. He clinched the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting—First Prize in 2009 and Third Prize in 2006—for exposing Bundelkhand’s devastating drought and distress: crop failures, farm suicides, migration, debt, and the injustice of meagre compensation cheques between Rs 10 and Rs 20 to farmers by the government from crop loss. He also has been awarded with Hindustan Times internal 'Journalist of the Month' citation over half a dozen times. His relentless reporting in Hindustan Times pulled the Bundelkhand crisis out of obscurity and forced it into the national spotlight, prompting media and government action on one of India’s most neglected regions. Over a decade, he filed hundreds of hard-hitting stories, travelling repeatedly from Lucknow deep into Bundelkhand. He also received the Special Mention KC Kulish International Award 2009. Pankaj also did long-haul political reporting on the most intense political family feud—’The Yadav Family Feud’—between 2016 and 2022.Read More