During the discussion on the budget in the assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attacked the opposition drawing comparisons between his government and that of the Samajwadi Party government.
Listing the development schemes being run by the state government, the chief minister criticised the delays and irregularities under the SP government. He stated, "The task of cultivating flowers for the state's people is being carried out by running bulldozers and rollers over them while removing the thorns planted in your government."
From those who have a tendency to grow thorns, flowers cannot be expected, the chief minister said. Comparing his government to SP's, Yogi said prior to 2017, sugar mills in the state were either shutting down or were being sold at throwaway prices. At that time the farmers of the state were committing suicide and crop procurement was dominated by middlemen.
“There was a ban on selling agricultural produce outside the mandi yard. The mandi fee was 2 per cent, but today the ‘annadata’ farmer is the government's top priority. In the very first meeting in 2017, the UP government decided to waive loans of the farmers amounting to Rs 36,000 crore, which benefited 86 lakh farmers. Today, the contribution of agriculture to the state GDP is 26 per cent, while the rate of agricultural development has increased three times as compared to 2016-17,” Yogi said.
The chief minister said that the Samajwadi Party always did politics in the name of Chaudhary Charan Singh and Ram Manohar Lohia but never followed their ideology. “Today, result-oriented work is being done in the state through better coordination. There is currently enough money for all governmental initiatives; no spending is unnecessary,” he said.
The chief minister gave the example of Saifai Mahotsav, saying that Rs 1,234 crore was spent in five from 2012 to 2017, but only Rs 21 crore had been spent on the investors’ summit held recently.