Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday dismissed the Uttar Pradesh government’s allegations that he had left the official bungalow assigned to him as the Chief Minister in poor shape, terming it a “conspiracy” of the BJP to tarnish his image.
Mr. Yadav, who was Chief Minister from 2012 to 2017, said the BJP was levelling false allegations against him as it was “unable to digest the defeats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur” and was “blinded by hate and envy”.
He said he did not take anything belonging to the government from the bungalow at 4, Vikramaditya Marg in Lucknow.
‘Took what I owned’
“I have only taken things owned by me,” Mr. Yadav told reporters, a day after Governor Ram Naik urged the State government to take necessary legal action in the matter.
In a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mr. Naik on Tuesday referred to the videography conducted by officials of the State estate department that concluded that Mr. Yadav’s residence was left in a damaged state.
Some reports had suggested that Mr. Yadav had left the house with broken tiles, missing taps, damaged roof and walls, and had covered up a swimming pool.
Mr. Yadav challenged the government to tally the inventory with the official report to check if he had damaged the property or taken away accessories belonging to the State.
He said he had refurnished the bungalow as per his likings with his own income and claimed that the taps and wooden floorings were intact.
He even brought a couple of taps to the press conference saying he wanted to give them to the BJP through the media.
