UP Election 2017: Akhilesh Yadav shares stage with Congress in first joint campaign

Lakhimpur Kheri: Sharing the stage with Congress in their first joint campaign, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today hit out at BJP, saying the saffron party will have to do an ‘ulta asana’ after people will vote against it in large numbers in the upcoming Assembly polls. Akhilesh, who shared the dais with Congress leader Prem Prakash Agrawal, defended the alliance of the two parties, saying now the ‘bicycle’ (SP symbol) will run even faster as there is a ‘hand’ (Congress symbol) to help in the ride. Samajwadi Party and Congress on Sunday sealed a pre-poll pact to contest the upcoming UP assembly elections, with the two parties declaring that while SP will have the lion’s share of 298 of 403 seats, Congress will contest the remaining 105. [caption id=“attachment_3217076” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Akhilesh Yadav. Reuters[/caption] “There is an ‘ulta asana’ in yoga, which is being propagated by BJP, but this time round, people will come out in large numbers to vote against BJP and make the party do ‘ulta asana’,” Akhilesh said, addressing an election meeting of his party in flood-prone Dhaurehra constituency in Lakhimpur Kheri. “See how have these people (BJP) misled us…We have already seen bad days by standing in long queues (because of demonetisation), now tell me where are the achche din,” he said. “We felt the country will make progress but these people pushed it back by bringing demonetisation and statistics prove this…note ban which was brought to check corruption saw corruption also in deposits of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes… The entire country stood in queues…it was only the SP government which extended financial help to families of those who lost their lives in queues,” he said. Attacking the BJP government for surgical strikes, he said several jawans were killed on the border later and questioned what help was extended to their families. “It was the SP government which gave an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh to their families…our government helped everyone…I appeal to people that the state elections are also going to decide the direction of the country and all should cast their votes judiciously,” he said. The chief minister was flanked by SP national general secretary Ravi Prakash Verma, party district chief Anurag Patel, Dhaurehra SP candidate Yash Pal Chaudhary and the Congress leader. “Till now, I was riding ‘bicycle’ (SP symbol) alone. Now that we have a ‘hand’ (Congress symbol) to help in the ride, the ‘bicycle’ will run even faster,” he said. “SP does what it says and there is no difference between its words and deeds,” he said, exuding confidence that the party will get thumping majority after its alliance with Congress. Mocking BJP, Akhilesh said its leaders lack even in common sense that money is not black or white, “rather transactions make currency black or white”. “But the BJP government banned all high denomination currency causing trouble to everyone–traders, farmers, rural women,” he said. Terming BJP as “chamatkari” (magical) party, Akhilesh asked people to beware of the saffron party as it could befool people with false promises. Accusing BSP of ignoring development works in UP during its regime and spending public money on statues, he alleged that both BSP and BJP have failed to carry out any development during their regime. He said revamping power supply in urban and rural areas, SP pension scheme, payment of cane dues, free laptop distribution, Lohia houses, ambulance and dial 100 vans were some of his government’s achievements. Akhilesh assured that free smartphones would be provided to youths and pressure cookers to rural women when the party would be voted to power. “Samajwadi Party can count a number of development works for the people…BJP should explain at least one development work that it did in UP,” he said. He also assured people in Dhaurehra area that everything would be done to solve the flood and erosion problem. “If needed, the SP government would chalk out a big project to sort out the issue after coming to power,” he said. Addressing rallies in Kasta and Nighasan, Akhilesh cautioned people that BJP can once again come out with a ‘jumla’ (empty or fake promise) before the elections to mislead them. “They have ruined the country’s politics in the past three years…they think it is easy to mislead people rather than make them understand anything,” he said. Terming BSP as ‘patharwali sarkar’, he said they sometimes end up on the winning side but they only put up elephants and have no achievements to showcase. On the criticism on law and order situation, Akhilesh claimed, “BJP is putting up big advertisements on the issue… people have not forgotten what was the situation like when they were in power…during the BSP government, one engineer was murdered when he refused to give donation.” “I admit there is need to improve police working and this is a big task but I’m making an effort in this direction. If any party has any better arrangement they can come out with it,” he said, adding the smartphones promised by his party in the poll manifesto will help in improving police functioning. He stressed on the need to further improve education and medical services in the state. Akhilesh also promised to fully implement SP’s manifesto on being voted to power.