At Pratapgarh rally, UP BJP chief Swatantradev Singh accuses SP, BSP govts of promoting casteism, corruption

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantradev Singh on Sunday accused the SP and BSP of always promoting casteism and corruption while in power, unlike the saffron party governments “working for development.” [caption id=“attachment_7494721” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of UP BJP chief Swatantradev Singh. ANI[/caption] Singh made the remark while addressing an election rally at Pratapgarh to seek support for joint BJP-Apna Dal (Sonelal) candidate Rajkumar Pal, contesting the 21 October assembly by-polls. “If power comes to Chanakya, it creates great rulers like Chandragupt Maurya. If this power comes to SP and BSP, it gives rise to casteism and corruption,” said Singh. “If the same power comes to Modi, it leads to construction of houses for the poor,” said the UP BJP chief. Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath have been working for development and to eliminate corruption. By-polls are being held for a total of 11 Uttar Pradesh assembly seats, necessitated in some due to election of MLAs to the Lok Sabha. The assembly constituencies going to vote are Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govindnagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC) and Ghosi. The assembly constituency of Ghosi became vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed as Bihar’s governor. Of the 11 seats, which are going to by-polls, eight were held by the BJP. Pratapgarh was held by Apna Dal (Sonelal), a BJP ally. The seats of Rampur and Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar) were held by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party respectively. The maximum number of candidates 13 each are from Lucknow Cantonment and Jalalpur assembly constituencies, followed by 12 in Ghosi, and 11 each in Gangoh, Pratapgarh, and Balha (SC). Nine candidates each are in the fray from Govindnagar and Manikpur. Besides, seven candidates each will contest from Rampur, Iglas (SC) and Zaidpur (SC).