A day the after the Congress declared its candidates for the by-polls to two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, its alliance partner in the Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party, has refused to reveal its cards. It asserted, however, that voters would give a fitting reply to the BJP on its “unfulfilled” promises.
“I will appeal to the people of both Gorakhpur and Phoolpur to help us... now that the Central government has presented all five budgets and Uttar Pradesh government has had two budgets, I think the BJP has nothing left to show to the people as the 2019 elections are round the corner,” Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav told reporters here.
The SP chief was responding to a question on the Congress announcing candidates for both the seats and about his party’s strategy.
“Has the BJP declared its candidates....? Why are you so worried about our candidates? You will soon get a reply ... the Central and State governments have not fulfilled even a single promise and the people of the State will give them a reply this year itself,” he said to persistent questions.
The Congress announced Dr Sureetha as its candidate for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll and local leader Manish Mishra for the Phoolpur parliamentary seat . The by-poll became necessary after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath vacated the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya left the Phoolpur seat after the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh. The elections will be held on March 11 and the results will be announced on March 14
Referring to the Investors Summit slated in the state capital for February 21 and 22, the SP chief alleged that “this government is attracting investors by showing them works done by our government. They have not done anything on their own so far.”
He alleged that the small shops and stalls before the Samajwadi Party office were removed in the name of the summit. “Which investor is going to come here...? The BJP government is snatching the livelihood of the people. How can they talk about investment? Can some BJP worker set up a good pakoda shop in front of the SP office? We too will get to taste the BJP pakodas,” he said in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark in an interview that even a pakoda seller should be considered employed.
Attacking the State government on the law and order front, the former Chief Minister claimed that only petty criminals were being killed in encounters while the police department was not taking any action against the more notorious ones. “Officials are doing this only for promotion,” he alleged, referring to an encounter in Noida.
“The BJP only pays lip service on the issue of ensuring prosperity of the people ... farmers are still committing suicide. How much loan of the farmers has been waived by them?” he said.
He once again demanded that future elections be held through ballot papers and said that he would seek the help of smaller parties in this regard.
Parties like the SP and BSP had raised questions on the use of EVMs after the BJP’s landslide victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections last year.
