| Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for its ‘arrogant’ claim of continuing in power at the Centre for the next 50 years.
Akhilesh Yadav also attacked the BJP government over rising fuel prices, saying that the people would teach them a lesson in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Taking on the BJP, Akhilesh said, “The BJP leaders claim that they won’t be going out of power for the next 50 years. I think they have forgotten the results of the recent Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha by-elections.”
“Power has gone to the head of BJP brass. They have become arrogant as a result of which such statements are being issued. After lynching the common man, the media and the constitutional institutions, will the BJP deprive the people of their right to elect their government through elections? The BJP should wait and the people will give them a befitting reply in the next 50 weeks,” Akhilesh said in Lucknow on Monday.
“The Prime Minister derailed the country’s progress by going for demonetisation, while implementation of the Goods and Services Tax has worsened the situation by increasing unemployment,” he said.
Referring to the Congress-led ‘Bharat Bandh’, Akhilesh said, “Even as the opposition is protesting, petrol and diesel prices have been hiked. The BJP government has failed on all fronts and has not kept the promises made to the people of the country.”
The SP leaders and workers staged protests across the state against rising fuel prices and on issues concerning farmers and students at all district headquarters in the state.
Though the SP did not ally with the Congress for the ‘Bharat Bandh’, it indirectly supported the protest against the BJP.
In Etawah, SP secretary general Ram Gopal Yadav led the agitation, while in Lucknow, SP state chief Naresh Uttam joined the party’s protest.
On the occasion, Akhilesh slammed the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in UP over misrule.