With Bahujan Samaj Party extending support to Samajwadi Party candidates for Gorakhpur and Phulpur lok Sabha bypolls, former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav resurrected the old caste agenda of the two parties and appealed to `Bahujan Samaj’ to rally behind the SP candidate in Gorakhpur. Akhilesh addressed a election rally in Gorakhpur on Wednesday.
``The BJP has been unnerved by the coming together of the SP and the BSP. There is a radical change in the tone and tenor of BJP leaders. They have suddenly realized our strength and they calling us as `chor chor mausare bhai’ and 'saanp and newla' (snake and mongoose). Can you accept such insinuations,’’ asked the SP chief which evoked thunderous applause from the audience.
Akhilesh also reminded the voters of the old plank of Bahujan Samaj Party where the party espoused the cause of representation to Bahujan Samaj in all institutions of polity as per their share in population—`Jiski Jitni Sankhya Bhari, Uskee Utnee Bhagedari’.
"The BJP government has linked ration cards, mobile phones, registration of property and several other services and modes of identification with Aadhar based biometric authentication. The government should also link electoral rolls with Aadhar so that their actual share among electorates was estimated and they were given representation as per their share in population,’’ said the SP president.
Akhilesh repeatedly reminded the voters that it was an important election and they should not miss the chance to use their franchise as if they failed then they would not get the chance again in their lifetime. "So many parties have come on one platform for the cause of Dalits, OBCs and minorities,’’ he reminded.
The SP chief also targeted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath without naming him. "I debuted in politics in 1999 and I have seen those people using invectives against us who used weep in Parliament and remained mute spectator in lok Sabha,’’ said the former CM.
Claiming that the previous SP government was committed to the development of the state and several projects were initiated and completed across UP while the Yogi government has failed to deliver.
"During 2017 Assembly poll, the BJP promised to lay a pipeline linking Gorakhpur with Gujarat and also to construct AIIMS and revive the fertilizer factory in Gorakhpur. There is no headway in all these projects even as the previous SP government gave land free of cost for the AIIMS,’’ said Akhilesh Yadav.