Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday that he had visited Ballia more in five years than what Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party leaders did in their 15 years’ tenure since 2003.

Seeking votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates at an election meeting in Bairia area on Saturday, Yogi said that he always visited Ballia during floods, twice during the novel coronavirus pandemic and occasionally to take stock of developmental projects underway in the district.

The chief minister added, "Despite battling the pandemic for the last couple of years in our five-year tenure, our achievements are much bigger than that of SP and BSP collectively in their 15-year rules. For example, SP provided only 18,000 houses for the poor in UP during its regime while we have provided 58,000 houses in Ballia alone. Besides, the BJP government built 2.61 crore toilets, provided free cooking gas and electricity connections to 1.67 crore and I.43 lakh poor families respectively."

Taking a jibe at the Samajwadi Party, Yogi said: "During their rule, even electricity belonged to certain castes and a community. That is why people had power supply during Eid and Muharram but not on Holi and Diwali. In contrast, the BJP has been providing benefits of the government's schemes to everyone without bias. We provided free tests, free treatment and free Covid vaccine in addition to a double dose of ration. Had there been an SP government, they would have looted vaccines and ration in order to benefit the Ghazipur mafia and their ‘itra wale mitra’."

"For the SP, development means only building boundary walls of graveyards whereas the double-engine BJP government has renovated Kashi Vishwanath Dham and is building Ram temple in Ayodhya. Also, Bhrigu Baba temple is being beautified," he said.

The chief minister said that efforts were on to find a solution to the flood problem in Ballia by strengthening the embankments and also to connect Ballia with Lucknow through a link expressway.

Yogi said that opposition party leaders were already preparing to leave the country after the poll results came out on March 10 and they have started booking their air tickets. 

The chief minister reminded that the BJP government provided five lakh government jobs to the youth in a transparent way in the last five years whereas during the SP regime, unfair practices in government appointments were rampant due to the 'Chacha-Bhatija' duo. 

Yogi assured the people that if the BJP government was reelected, it would keep its promises of giving free LPG cylinders on Holi and Diwali, providing free bus travel for women aged 60 years and above and increasing CM Kanya Sumanagala Yojana amount from Rs 15,000 to 25,000 and for daughters’ marriages from Rs 51,000 to Rs 1 lakh under community marriage scheme.

Yogi said that one crore people were getting pension of Rs 12,000 annually. He promised that a youth from every family would get a job whereas two crore tablets and smartphones would be distributed to students if the BJP was voted back to power.

Offering sop to farmers, Yogi said that the power bills for running tube wells for irrigation would be waived.