Hitting out at Samajwadi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party state president Mahendra Nath Pandey said the previous Akhilesh Yadav government was anti-people and pro-industrialists while the present Yogi Adityanath government was pro-poor and pro-farmers in true sense.

Reacting to the allegations of Samajwadi Party national president that BJP governments at the Centre and the state were protecting industrialists, Pandey said that Akhilesh Yadav might have forgotten that during the Samajwadi Party regime, sugar mills were sold at throw away prices to select industrialists.

“It was the same Samajwadi Party government that gave precious land in Dadri project to a top industrialist without realising the harm it was committing to the farming community. The SP government was truly pro-rich because during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s regime, Uttar Pradesh Vikas Parishad was formed and it comprised only industrialists,” the BJP state chief said.

Pandey said in contrast to that, the Yogi government waived crop loans worth Rs 36,000 crore of farmers and ensured good remunerative prices of their crop. He said the cane arrears of last five years had been cleared.

“This is what the BJP government has done for farmers and now Akhilesh should tell what his government had done for the farmers,” he said.

About law and order, Pandey said that crime was under control. “During SP regime, police officers like Zia-ul Haq, Tanjil Ahmad, SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Santosh Rai were killed,” he pointed out.

Pandey said the Yogi government had sent out a strict message to criminals that they would not be spared.