Voters getting threat calls after SP emerged as key contender: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, on Sunday, alleged that people are being threatened over the phone against voting for his party after it has emerged as a powerful contender in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

He also asked people to record such threatening calls so that based on them FIRs could be lodged after his government comes to power. “Since the SP has emerged as a powerful contender in the elections, people are being threatened over the phone. If anyone gets such a call, record it. I want to say that the recordings will be considered as (the basis of) FIRs,” Yadav said without taking any names.

Yadav made the allegations while addressing workers’ meet in the Bah assembly constituency of Agra. He said the assembly polls in the state are for the future of Uttar Pradesh and to save the country’s Constitution.

“This election is for the future of the UP and to save the Constitution. The BJP can do anything and nobody knows till they do it. Did anyone know demonetisation was going to be announced?” he asked as proof of his allegation.

Yadav also mocked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who in a recent statement, had said he would “cool down” after March 10, the day for the announcement of elections result, those heightening passions.

“The chief minister is talking about cooling down. But we will only talk about announcing recruitments in the police for youngsters of the state,” he said

Talking about emergency service ‘Dial 100’, he said, “We started ‘Dial 100’ to protect those who are being harassed by anyone across the state. The chief minister has not been able to change the tyres of the vehicles or the colour of the Dial 100 vehicles. Chief minister has only changed the name from Dial 100 to 112.”

He hit out at the state government for alleged mismanagement during the second wave of Covid in April-May last year.