Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav launched a frontal attack on the Yogi Adityanath regime in Rampur, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was misusing the state machinery and intimidating the voters.

On Saturday, the SP chief campaigned for party candidate Tazeen Fatma, who is contesting the bypoll from Rampur assembly seat. She is the wife of SP veteran leader and Lok Sabha member from Rampur, Mohammad Azam Khan.

“It appears that the by-election to Rampur assembly seat has become very prestigious for the BJP and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The BJP government has unleashed a reign of terror against the SP rank and file and the common man,” Akhilesh Yadav said, adding, “Do not despair, such things do happen in democratic politics.”

During the ongoing by-elections to 11 assembly seats and the bypoll at Hamirpur assembly constituency held earlier, Akhilesh Yadav has campaigned only in Rampur as Azam Khan is facing tough time. The police have registered over 80 cases against Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma, who is a member of Rajya Sabha, and MLA son Abdullah Azam.

“The Rampur bypoll is no small election. It is an election to save democracy and the whole country is watching the events here. The people of the country are anxious about the outcome of the by-election here as the Yogi Adityanath government has deployed all its might to fix Azam Khan in fake cases,” the SP chief said.

Akhilesh Yadav said that the Yogi Adityanath government had singled out three districts – Rampur, Etawah and Kannauj — as no development work had been undertaken there during the Yogi Adityanath rule.

Praising the party’s Lok Sabha member from Rampur, the SP chief said, “Azam Khan is a national leader and is valiantly fighting the legal battle and he is confident that he will get justice from the judiciary.”

Targeting the district officials, the SP chief said, “The officers should conduct themselves in professional manner... political bosses keep changing every five years. The officers change their behaviour much faster than the weather  and those officers who are working for the ruling party may have to face tough time in future with the change of guard.”

Hitting out at Yogi Adityanath, the SP chief said, “The police in this regime have gone berserk and the cops can kill anyone with impunity. An innocent youth was killed by the police by shooting him from point blank range as he had failed to pay the extortion money to the police.”

Akhilesh Yadav said the mother of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tewari, who was killed in the state capital on Friday, had said on record that her family was more secure during the Samajwadi Party regime and her son was killed in the Yogi Adityanath rule.

The SP chief alleged that the UP Police was trying to give a communal colour to the murder of Kamlesh Tewari.