A war of words broke out Sunday between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) with both blaming each other for not fulfilling their poll promises and holding other accountable for communal tensions in the State.
Responding to the SP charges of not meeting their poll promises, BJP asked SP Chief Mulayum Singh Yadav to first introspect about the performance of his party’s 30-month-old Government before accusing the three-month-old NDA dispensation at the Centre of not fulfilling its promises.
“It’s an irony, those who failed to fulfill their promises made to the people of Uttar Pradesh even after 30 months are accusing the three-month-old BJP-led NDA Government of not fulfilling on its promises,” BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said at lucknow.
He claimed that the BJP would emerge victorious in the bypolls for 11 Vidhan Sabha seats and a lok Sabha seat in UP and said that country comes first for the party.
Pathak alleged that discriminatory policies of the SP Government create communal tension in the State. “SP supremo claimed that one officer has told him that BJP can trigger riots. He must tell who are these officers who are informing the SP supremo about which the CM is ignorant,” he added.
The BJP leader questioned why loan waiver scheme for the farmers failed to take off and why farmers of Bundelkhand region were still forced to commit suicide. “He must tell what happened to free laptop scheme which was launched with much fan fare. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who talked about power, law and order on top of his agenda, looked most helpless on these issues in his 30-month- old tenure,” Pathak alleged.
“People have already taught a lesson to those who take decision for political gains and they will have to face defeat again in the by-elections,” he said. Hitting out at the BJP for the recent communal tension in Uttar Pradesh, SP national general secretary Rewarti Raman Singh alleged at Varanasi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah “influence” it from behind.
Singh also blamed the Centre for being biased against the UP on the issue of power crisis and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). “The Central Government is acting in a partial way in supplying power to UP, even Varanasi, where people have elected Modi their MPs with high hopes but instead the Centre is not even providing the power supply of the State’s quota here,” he alleged.
“The Centre had even reduced the amount in budget of PMGSY allocated to Uttar Pradesh,” he claimed at a Press conference here. Talking about Modi’s ambitious plan of cleaning river Ganga, Singh asked, “How will the Government be cleaning Ganga, when their would be scarce or no water in the riverIJ “As long as they (government) will continue constructing dams on the river,the flow of river will get obstructed and water level will continue to decline,” he said.
“On one side NDA Minister Uma Bharati says the Government wants to clean Ganga and is serious for this, and on another side she says that constructing dams in Uttarakhand is necessary for boosting economy and the electricity generation is must for it, so I ask them How will you allow Ganga to flow freely without any obstructions (from Gomukh to Gangasagar)IJ
Meanwhile, India TV on Sunday issued a clarification stating that BJP president had clearly told the channel that his party never tries to win elections by taking recourse to communal tensions. The clarification follows media reports based on a press release issued by the channel in which it quoted Amit Shah as having said if communal tension continues in Uttar Pradesh, BJP will form the next Government in the State.
Shah also said Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra and Haryana but there is no communal tension in these states. On the other hand, in UP there is communal tension because the SP is adopting one-sided approach, he said. If the BJP comes to power in UP, it will be because of wrong policies of SP, the party president said.