The BJP has attacked the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for directly giving election tickets to “goons” instead of releasing a candidates’ list ahead of assembly elections starting February 10.
Addressing the media at the BJP office in Lucknow on Monday, Patra said, “While I was on my way to the party office today, my driver told me here the Samajwadi Party has not announced the candidates’ list. I asked him why so to which he replied ‘because all of them are goons’. It seems that Akhilesh has given tickets to people like Nahid Hasan and that is why the candidates’ list is not being announced by the Samajwadi Party.”
“Thankfully, Yakub Memon was given the life sentence else Akhilesh ji would have fielded him in the elections along with Nahid Hasan. Today, I throw a challenge to Akhilesh ji to issue the candidates’ list about who is contesting from where. We all know that he won’t be issuing the list… The ticket of Nahid Hasan was announced due to which there is anger in the entire country and that is exactly the reason why the candidates’ list is not being announced,” added Patra.
Patra has also asked Yadav to apologise for accusing the BJP of bringing Pakistan during “politics of votes”. “Today, I read the interview of former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in a newspaper in which he has said Pakistan is not the real enemy of India but BJP brings Pakistan in the middle for the politics of votes. This statement is very shameful and for this he should apologise to the country.”
He even questioned Yadav over the situation in Kashmir where people were “subjected to shelling by Pakistan… Unarmed and innocent people are killed by terrorists sent by Pakistan. Isn’t their life valuable? You (Akhilesh Yadav) are saying the real enemy of India is not Pakistan, this is all being made up by the Bhartiya Janata Party.”
The BJP leader also said Akhilesh Yadav was questioning the opinion polls now but he will blame the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for his “loss” on the counting day on March 10.
Reacting to Patra’s allegations, the Samajwadi Party has slammed the BJP for criminalisation of politics and clarified that the party has been declaring the names of the candidates on the website and social media platforms, and “nothing was hidden from anyone”.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi told News18, “The BJP should introspect their party first, they have MLAs like Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana who have a tainted background. Even their Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya has cases on him while Yogi ji took back his cases while being in power. So, instead of preaching others, the BJP should see who they are fielding… We want that a law should be made so that those charge-sheeted in heinous crimes be barred from contesting elections. With the BJP being in power at the Centre, it’s their responsibility to make a law on this.”
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