Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday launched a veiled attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying he is not bothered by remarks made by someone who is ‘on his way out.’
The former chief minister of UP said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had frequently faced criticism from courts over law and order.
“Who will listen to those who have no say in their own party. Anyway, why feel bad about the words by someone who is on his way out,” Akhilesh said in a cryptic post on X.
It is believed that Yadav was referring to earlier reports about rumblings in the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
The BJP won 33 out of 80 seats in UP in the Lok Sabha polls, down from 62 it had won in the 2019 general elections.
Overall, the saffron party’s seats came down from 303 in 2019 to 240 in 2014.
Yadav, the Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj in UP, was responding to comments by CM Yogi against him in a public rally recently.
“Those who used to consider power as their family property have started realising that they will never return to Uttar Pradesh, that is why they are trying to conspire. They (SP) are trying to create anarchy. They have nothing to do with development and the safety of daughters and businessmen,” Yogi had said.
The chief minister had criticised Yadav for questioning the police encounter involving Mangesh Yadav, who was allegedly linked to a robbery at a jeweller’s shop in Sultanpur.
“You tell me, if a dacoit is killed in an encounter with the police, the Samajwadi Party feels bad. You ask these people what should have happened,” Yogi said.
Yadav had claimed that Mangesh Yadav’s encounter was fake.
“IPS officers have remained absconding for months, police stations are earning Rs 15 lakh per day. BJP members themselves are kidnapping the police and the ‘Bulldozer Code’ has replaced the ‘Penal Code’; ‘law and order’ has become just a word. Those who have made it a habit to get rebuked by courts should better remain silent,” Yadav said targeting the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government.
