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‘Mungerilal ke haseen sapne’: UP minister’s jibe on AAP’s 2022 poll announcement
The minister reminded Kejriwal of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections which he contested from Varanasi and lost.
Uttar Pradesh minister Siddhartha Nath Singh on Tuesday made light of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would contest the 2022 UP assembly elections. Singh said that Kejriwal was a ‘habitual liar’ and that his government had failed to check the spread of Covid-19.
In a lighter vein, Singh said Kejriwal’s attempt to enter the state’s political scenario was like ‘Mungerilal ke haseen sapne’ which, he added, would be called ‘Kejriwal ke haseen sapne’ after 2022 UP assembly polls. ‘Mungerilal ke haseen sapne’ was a popular comedy show of the 90s directed by Prakash Jha.
Singh reminded Kejriwal of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which the latter contested and lost badly in Varanasi, and said it was hard to imagine how he turned out the hapless people of UP, Bihar and Jharkhand from Delhi during the trying times of Covid-19.
He said the Yogi government received them, provided them free ration, gave them sustenance allowance and got them tested for Covid-19 for free.
Singh said, “It is surprising that the Delhi CM has something to comment on UP government despite his failure to meet the expectations of Delhi on more than one occasion.”
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“UP has conducted more than two crore Covid-19 tests against 72 lakh done by Delhi. Delhi has a population of 2 crore while UP has a population of about 24 crore and the number of total cases in Delhi is 6.08 lakh and in UP the figure is 5.66 lakh. We are conducting over 1.75 lakh tests daily,” said Singh, who referred to Delhi high court’s observations against Delhi government for ‘poor’ handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
Singh said UP government has received accolades from the World Health Organisation for the efficient Covid-19 management.
“Now look at the facilities. We have two AIIMS in UP and you are not able to even manage one. We have added 52 new medical colleges in the state in the past four years. If you want to have more facts, we are open for a debate,” Singh said while challenging Kejriwal.
Singh further said Kejriwal owed an apology to the people of Purvanchal for saying that they come to Delhi on a ticket of Rs 500 and get free treatment of Rs 5 lakh. He pointed out that “the unemployment rate of Delhi is over 45 per cent and we have given employment to over four lakh youths in the past three-and-a-half years. Over 1.5 crore youths have become self-reliant with the assistance of the state government… Delhi government also claims 1,024 primary schools. We have 1.35 lakh primary schools in UP and over 50,000 of them have been upgraded under ‘Kayakalp’ scheme.”
Singh said Kejriwal was in the habit of confusing people. “He is claiming that AAP volunteers are moving around in the state with oximeters. I would suggest you (Kejriwal) to kindly get your oxygen level checked with an oximeter.”
