The Bharatiya Janata Party lashed out at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for criticising the Yogi Adityanath government over law and order. 

The BJP said the SP chief was clueless about the state’s and law and order and during his tenure as chief minister, criminals had a free run in the state.

BJP spokesman Dr Chandramohan said in Lucknow on Saturday that the voters of Uttar Pradesh had endorsed the good governance and efficient law and order in the state by voting overwhelmingly for the party in the recent Lok Sabha elections. 

He said that stringent action for enforcing the rule of law and the drive against criminals had unnerved the SP leader.

“During the two years of Yogi government, there has been a sharp drop of 25-30 per cent in crimes in the state. A total of 81 criminals were eliminated in encounters and over Rs 200 crore were seized during action under National Security Act,” he said.

The BJP leader said that law and order was conspicuous by its absence during Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure. He said that the criminal mindset of the SP chief was evident from the fact that his party won the 2012 UP Assembly election by dubbing the previous Mayawati regime as “goonda raj” and later allying with the Bahujan Samaj Party for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Dr Chandramohan said that after the Lok Sabha polls, the BSP not only snapped ties with the SP, but Mayawati also levelled serious charges against Akhilesh Yadav and questioned his political acumen and abilities to steer the alliance politics.

The BJP leader said that instead of introspecting on the series of electoral reverses suffered by his party in the last five years, Akhilesh Yadav was levelling baseless charges against the Yogi government.

“The SP chief is ignorant of ground realities in UP. During poll campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh had promised to the electorate that the SP-BSP would give a new prime minister and Narendra Modi would not get a second term. The voters of UP have vivid memories of the ‘goonda raj’ prevailing during Akhilesh regime,” Dr Chandramohan said. 

The BJP leader said that the Chief Minister himself was reviewing law and order and tainted police personnel were being forcibly retired and this had helped in creating an environment of safety and security. 

He said that the series of measures taken by the Chief Minister had led to an image makeover of Uttar Pradesh not only within the country but at the global level.