Yogi Adityanath's latest achievement: Boosting potato cultivation in Uttar Pradesh, says state minister

Lucknow: The bumper potato harvest in Uttar Pradesh this year increased with the arrival of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister, if one goes by state horticulture minister. [caption id=“attachment_3804915” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Yogi Aditiyanath. PTI[/caption] The minister, Dara Singh Chauhan, gave the reply when asked about potato production, evoked peals of laughter from members of the House. “Potato production increased with the arrival of Yogi government in the state,” Singh said in reply to SP member Nitin Agarwal’s question on potato production and storage facilities. This led to a banter in the House and even the chief minister was seen smiling. SP member Shailendra Yadav, however, found the reply absurd. Yadav claimed that out of the 325 legislators of the BJP and Apna Dal, 200 were “turncoats” who shifted loyalties during polls and such persons were giving absurd replies. In his reply later, the minister said that in UP there were 1,708 cold storages having a capacity of 130.26 lakh MT, which can accommodate 84 per cent of the potato produced. He said 120.29 lakh MT potato have been kept in cold storage this year. When the member said that potato farmers were forced to commit suicide, Chauhan said there was no such incident.