Law and order issue exaggerated by opponents: Akhilesh

Lucknow: Alleging that the Opposition was exaggerating incidents related to law and order, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said his party “did not take political mileage out of murders and disputes”. Rejecting the Opposition’s criticism of the government over the prevailing law and order situation in the state, the chief minister said in the Assembly that “it was being exaggerated by my opponents”.[caption id=“attachment_1409709” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. PTI[/caption] “My party did not take political mileage out of murders and disputes… The state government extended relief to the Muzaffarnagar riots victims with good intentions,” he said while replying to the three-day debate on the Governor’s address in the Assembly. Yadav said the National Human Rights Commission “has expressed satisfaction” over the relief works, and his government had presented its stand firmly in the Supreme Court in this connection. The chief minister claimed that most of the promises made by his party in its poll manifesto had been fulfilled in less than two years of his government. “The Samajwadi Party government has implemented promises made in its manifesto… It has also taken concrete steps in the field of development and has made every effort to ensure funds are used on development,” Yadav said. Taking note of the opposition charges that his party was getting publicity on government money by putting up pictures of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on laptops being distributed to students, the chief minister said it was because his government was drawing inspiration from Mulayam and he always thought about the betterment of the youth. “This picture has been put up so that the people know that SP is not against English and computers,” he said. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said his government was not just providing unemployment allowance but was creating job opportunities also. He cited his government’s achievements in health care, medical education, infrastructure development and road construction. Alleging that the erstwhile BSP government had pushed the state backward by 10 to 15 years, Yadav said his government had taken concrete steps to enhance power generation and streamline distribution. By 2016, all cities would get 24-hour power supply and villages for 16 hours, he said. The chief minister claimed that the BSP government had signed several MoUs for setting up power units, but all the investors had “run away”. Rejecting allegations that his government was changing the names of some institutes, Yadav, citing the example of King George’s Medical University, said it was the culture of the erstwhile BSP government, not that of SP. On investors not showing interest in setting up projects on PPP model, he said it was because the previous government had given them so many “sweeteners” that they wanted the same from him. Stating though it was not always fair to compare two states on development front, the chief minister claimed that keeping in view the size of its population, Uttar Pradesh was way ahead of others. PTI