Akhilesh, Adityanath trade barbs in fight for country’s biggest state

Strong current against BJP in Uttar Pradesh, says Akhilesh Yadav
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday took a jibe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for calling the prime minister for his poll campaign, and coined a new acronym for PM – Packers and Movers – to state that people have understood its meaning.

Hitting out at the BJP, Yadav also asserted that there is a 440 volt current against the ruling party in the public. “The CM has called PM (for UP polls). The people of cities know what PM means...It means his Packers and Movers (PM) are ready,” Yadav said while addressing an election rally in Sandila constituency in Hardoi.

He said this time there is direct fight between the BJP and people of the state. “We are with the people who are directly fighting with the BJP. Neither BSP nor Congress is going to form the next government. Don’t waste your votes and ensure the SP forms the next government,” he said.

Terming Adityanath as “Bulldozer Baba”, Yadav said he used to call him ‘Baba CM’ but a newspaper has named him as “Bulldozer Baba” “The CM used to change names and colours of schemes in past five years and now his name has also been changed,” he said.

He said in the first and second phase of polls, the Samajwadi Party has scored a century in terms of seats and after third and fourth phase the “double century” of his party will be made and in rest of the phases the BJP will be left far behind.

“The BJP did not understand that there is 440 volt current against it in the public. The language of its leaders has changed,” he said, adding that the people of the state have already sent the Baba to his native place Gorakhpur (from where his is contesting polls).

Akhilesh will remain ‘babua’ throughout life: Adityanath
UP CM Yogi Adityanath has trashed as “childish” Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s charge that he delayed distribution of tablets and smartphones as he cannot operate gadgets himself, and asserted that the state government has been using e-path as part of good governance.

Yadav probably doesn’t know that I have been monitoring the functioning of government schemes through an e-dashboard installed in my office as well as residence, the chief minister said. The government had presented an e-budget last time as well as this time, he told PTI in an interview on board a helicopter in the course of campaigning.

He was responding to Yadav’s remarks that “since ‘baba mukhya mantri’ doesn’t know how to operate laptop and tablet he delayed there distribution as part of the the BJP’S 2017 poll promises in the state”. Dubbing it as a childish remark, Adiyanath said Yadav will remain a ‘babua’ (child) throughout his life and added that “such comments are devoid of sanskar and sanskriti” (value and culture).

UP has been using information technology on a wider scale as part of good governance.The government has adopted e-tender procedure to end “malpractices” during previous governments when middlemen used to “swallow” larger chunks of the development projects money.

Online monitoring helped the government streamline the public distribution system as well as in effective monitoring of Covid cases, Adityanath said.