Known for love with animals particularly cows, chief minister Yogi Adityanath surprised his political opponents on Friday after he visited ‘Kanha Upvan’, a shelter home for cows and stray animals of Nagar Nigam but run by Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Prateek Yadav and his wife Aparna Yadav.
Interestingly both Prateek and Aparna, whose NGO `Jeev Ashray’ runs the shelter, were accompanying Yogi, raising speculations amongst the political circles about possible entry of Mulayam’s younger daughter-in-law in Bharatiya Janta Party. Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, in whose tenure as City’s mayor, the Kanha Upvan started, was also present. Besides, cabinet minister Suresh Khanna and state minister Swati Singh were also present.
Soon after visiting Kanha Upvan, Yogi directed that such shelter home for stray animals should be opened in other districts also. He directed that cow loves cleaniness so their homes should be kept more neat and clean. He also asked to extend the shades and directed that under Kanha Shelter Animal Welfare Schemes, shelter home to house 700 more cows should be completed soon. Besides he asked to make more better uses of cow dunk and urine.
Hailing the efforts of Nagar Nigam for starting shelter home for animals, Yogi directed his cabinet colleague Suresh Khanna, to ensure that other Nagar Nigams will also follow the same. He said that where ever cow shelter homes are already running, efforts should be made to extend it further so more and more cows could get benefit. He directed that all the cows and other cattle, those have been rescued from smugglers should also be shifted in such shelter homes and arrangements should be made for their proper care and medical facilities.
Yogi also enquired about well being of Kanha Upvan employees and directed to increase the capacity of bio-gas plant, installed in the Upvan so that employees could also get benefit out of it. The Upvan, stretched in 54 bigha land in Sarojninagar is started by lucknow Nagar Nigam in 2010 and presently had about 1850 cattle which included 900 cows. Yogi, besides visiting the cow shelter home, had also inspected the treatment center for injured animals particularly dogs. He also gave fodder and jaggery to cows.
Meanwhile some media persons when asked Aparna about her joining BJP, she refused to give any reply and claimed that she had no immediate plan of leaving Samajwadi Party. She claimed that Yogi had lauded her role in maintaining the Upvan and assured of all possible help.
It may be mentioned that both Prateek and Aparna had met the new CM as soon he was elevated to the post, triggering curiosity in state capital, coming as it did immediately after Adityanath’s BJP trounced SP led by Prateek’s elder brother Akhilesh Yadav. Prateek, Aparna and her brother Aman Singh Bisht had paid a courtesy visit to the new CM at the VVIP Guest House where he was staying then. The trio had met the CM with a bouquet of flowers and the meeting lasted about 20 minutes.
Sources close to the development said that the only topic that was discussed in the meeting was ‘Gau-Sanrakshan’ (cow protection), which both Yogi and Prateek were passionate about. Incidentally, Aparna had fought on a SP ticket in the recently concluded assembly polls but lost to BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who is a minister now in the Yogi cabinet.
Earlier too, Aparna Yadav visited Yogi Adityanath in September 2014 in Gorakhpur after the death of Mahant Avaidyanath. Aparna had gone to Gorakhpur as part of her social development initiatives but she changed her itinerary after knowing about the demise of Mahant Avaidyanath. At the time, Aparna had just started to get active in the political and social work circuits.