With about two and a half years left for the next Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh has lamented the slow pace of development under the “majority” government headed by his son, Akhilesh Yadav.
Stating that mere announcements and laying foundation stones will not work, the Samajwadi Party chief slammed the State government for the rising tide of unfinished schemes. “There should have been no problem as a majority government is in office,” Mr. Singh remarked.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the foundation-laying ceremony of the 302-km Agra-Lucknow Greenfield Expressway project at Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s residence on Sunday.
Asking the Chief Minister and the Ministers present to submit to him the list of the projects completed, Mr. Singh said he was well within his right to know the facts.
“The Ministers are living under the illusion that they are above the organisation. But the party is bigger than the Ministers. The Ministers can be removed if the organisation wanted to, but I cannot be removed from the post of party president,” Mr. Singh said. He even dared the Ministers to have him removed as the party president.
“The national convention of the party is over and I have become the president for three years. Another sammelan will have to be called to remove me from the post,” the Samajwadi chief said.
Mr. Singh said he is averse to coming to 5, Kalidas Marg [the CM’s official residence] as it is alleged that he is running the government. He underlined the importance of timely completion of projects. “Whether they have television sets or not, the people are very alert. They are seeing that the progress of schemes is very slow.”