Taking a pot-shot at Akhilesh Yadav for bringing his father Mulayam Singh Yadav to address rally in his favour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that with the SP losing steam, it has brought its patriarch to resurrect its hope in the election.
“I heard Akhilesh Yadav say on television that he would now come to Karhal only on March 10, but he forced Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) to address the rally in his favour. This happened when he had publically claimed that he would come to Karhal only on March 10,” Shah said while addressing an election rally in Mainpuri.
Incidentally, Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav addressed the rally at a distance of only about three kilometres from the venue of Shah's rally.
“If people want BJP to win 300 seats, the beginning has to be made from Karhal. Defeat Akhilesh and ensure victory of SP Singh Baghel from this constituency. Make the ‘kamal’ (lotus) win in Karhal and wipe out SP from the state,” he said.
“He is a big leader of the Baghels. When he joined the BJP, he did so after leaving power. We made him the president of the (party’s) OBC morcha. He contested the (Lok Sabha) election and won. Prime Minister Narendra Modiji made him a minister and there was no need for him to contest the Assembly polls. But he said he does not want Uttar Pradesh to be run by gangsters again,” Shah said.
The BJP leader said once again a government that works for the welfare of the poor, backward classes, Dalits and farmers has to be installed in the state and hence, Baghel has been fielded in the ongoing polls.
Hitting out at the SP, Shah alleged that the party ruled Uttar Pradesh for a long time but did nothing for the poor, whereas after coming to power in 2014, PM Modi had said the BJP government is a government for the poor and backward sections of the society and has worked in this direction since then.