Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday criticised Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya for his controversial statement on “lungi-wearing people and the cap worn by members of a specific community”.
“Keshav Prasad Maurya seems to be referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s dress. It’s only the beginning and as the election approaches the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders will use more and more intemperate language,” Akhilesh Yadav said here on Sunday.
“As far as dress is concerned, the BJP will continue to speak such filthy language. The people of Uttar Pradesh have made up their mind to throw out the BJP government in the 2022 assembly elections. Keshav Prasad Maurya seems to have seen the chief minister’s dress (lungi), his outfit up close, that’s why he is saying such things. Keshav Mauryaji’s fight is not with the people of the opposition, his fight is with the people inside his party,” the SP chief said.
He reiterated that “there will be no yogi government but a ‘yogya’ (qualified) government in 2022”.
He said with the ulterior political motives, the BJP was deliberately creating discord in society and the sole objective of the statements of the BJP leaders in provocative language was to create polarisation of voters ahead of the UP assembly elections.
“If you ask the BJP leaders about the economic devastation suffered by all sections of society due to the pandemic, they have no answer. If you ask them about unemployment, they have no answer and they are also evasive about the galloping inflation,” the SP chief said.
Asked if Hari Shankar Tiwari and his son Vinay Shankar were likely to join the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh said all those who wanted to join the SP were welcome.
Sources said Hari Shankar Tiwari and his son Vinay, who is the Bahujan Samaj Party MLA from Chillupar assembly constituency in Gorakhpur, recently met Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and are likely to join the SP soon.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary are expected to share the stage during a joint rally at Dabthuva in Siwalkhas assembly constituency of Meerut district on December 7. A formal announcement of an alliance between the two parties is expected at the rally, for which grand preparations are underway.
The alliance between SP and RLD for the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election gains importance when it comes to the western part of the state. According to sources, seat sharing between the two parties is almost final. Leaders of both parties are now working together for their first joint rally ahead of the announcement of the assembly elections.
SP and RLD leaders claimed that the joint rally will be historic. The ‘bhaichara zindabad’ campaign is being run by the RLD in the western part of the state, aiming to bridge the communal gap that widened after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. This rally is being considered important for western UP, as it will also gauge the mood of farmers after the Central government repealed the three controversial farm laws.
