News Analysis India

Tag: UP Assembly Elections 2022

  • New faces likely in Yogi Cabinet 2.0; caste balance, performance to decide new team

    By ANI

    LUCKNOW: Days after the BJP retained power for the second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to visit Delhi on Sunday to discuss the new cabinet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    National President JP Nadda, Amit Shah and BL Santosh in Delhi will be present at the meeting. The swearing-in ceremony date will also be discussed during the meeting.

    As per sources, the BJP is also considering several new faces in the Cabinet along with the new Deputy Chief Minister.

    State President Swatantrata Dev Singh, BJP leader Sunil Bansal, state in-charge Radha Mohan Singh will also accompany Adityanath to Delhi on Sunday.

    It is being speculated that the BJP leadership has prepared a basic list of probable Deputy Chief Ministers and Ministers on the basis of qualification, caste and regional equations because BJP gives place to every caste in its cabinet. The Central leadership will have the final say on the list.

    For the post of Deputy Chief Minister, the names of Swatantra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya, Brijesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya are in talks. Swatantra Dev Singh was the Transport Minister, apart from this he was the BJP state president.

    Keshav Prasad Maurya has definitely lost from Sirathu seat in the elections this time but he is the face of OBC. As Deputy Chief Minister, he has governed the state well, so once again he can be made the Deputy Chief Minister.

    Baby Rani Maurya has been the Governor of Uttarakhand and is a well-known face of Jatav society in Uttar Pradesh. Brijesh Pathak, of the Brahmin community, has been a law minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, who is also a Kurmi leader, was one of the prominent faces behind BJP’s big win in Uttar Pradesh.

    Law Minister Brijesh Pathak, who won from Lucknow Cantonment seat, may get the role of Deputy Chief Minister in the Yogi government to maintain the Brahmin equation.In Yogi Sarkar 2, the leadership is also considering the inclusion of two former police officers in the new cabinet- Rajeshwar Singh and Asim Arun.

    The newly-elected MLA from Sarojini Nagar seat of Lucknow, Dr Rajeshwar Singh was an officer of Uttar Pradesh Police. BJP MLA Aseem Arun has won from Kannauj (Sadar) seat. Asim Arun was an officer of the rank of ADG. Before being the first police commissioner of Kanpur, Asim Arun’s father late Ram Arun was twice the DGP of Uttar Pradesh.

    Many Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have won by a huge margin of votes. In this, the candidate from the Noida Assembly seat and Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh has won by a margin of 1,81,513 votes.

    The BJP senior leaders are also discussing Pankaj Singh getting a place in the Yogi cabinet. Till now, no one from Noida had got a place in the Yogi cabinet, so it is expected that this time Pankaj Singh, who has performed brilliantly in 2017 and now in 2022 too, can be made a minister in the Yogi government.

    Shalabh Mani Tripathi, a Brahmin young face close to Yogi and an experienced journalist, can be made a minister in the Yogi cabinet. Shalabh has also been in ABVP earlier.Allies Apna Dal and Nishad Party would also get a place in the Cabinet-MLC Ashish Patel and Sanjay Nishad can get important roles to play.

    Besides the new faces, old leaders like Suresh Khanna, who won with a landslide victory from the Shahjahanpur seat for the ninth consecutive time, can also be made a minister.Brijesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya can also be part of the cabinet again.

    The swearing-in of the Yogi government is likely to be held on March 15 or 21.

    Adityanath on Friday tendered his resignation to Governor Anandiben Patel at the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow.

    Following the massive victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Adityanath on Friday held a meeting with his ministerial colleagues at the party office in Lucknow. Adityanath, a monk-turned-politician, won his first-ever Assembly election by a margin of 1,03,390 from Gorakhpur Urban constituency, defeating the Samajwadi Party candidate Subhawati Upendra Dutt Shukla, who secured 62,109 votes in the recently-concluded UP Assembly elections. Adityanath will be the first Chief Minister in the last 37 years to return to power after completing a full term in the state.

  • Voting begins for last phase of UP polls; 613 candidates in fray on 54 seats

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Voting for the seventh and the last phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections began on Monday morning, with 613 candidates in the fray on 54 seats, including those falling in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary segment Varanasi.

    The fate of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president Om Prakash Rajbhar and several state ministers will be decided in this round, in which 2.06 crore people are eligible to vote.

    Voting will be held from 7 am to 4 pm on the Chakia (Chandauli), Robertsganj and Duddhi (Sonbhadra) seats while in the rest of the segments, it will continue till 6 pm.

    The districts going to the polls in this phase are Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra.

    Once considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, the region saw the BJP making inroads in 2017 by winning 29 seats.

    The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got six seats and the SP 11.

    For the SP, its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav made a rare appearance in Jaunpur to drum up support for Lucky Yadav, the son of his long-time associate the late Parasnath Yadav.

    Lucky Yadav is in the fray from the Malhani seat.

    Mulayam had earlier campaigned for his son Akhilesh Yadav in the Karhal Assembly segment of Mainpuri.

    Besides state Tourism Minister Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi South), other ministers in the fray in the last leg of the elections are Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur-Varanasi), Ravindra Jaiswal (Varanasi North), Girish Yadav (Jaunpur) and Ramashankar Singh Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur).

    Dara Singh Chauhan, who had resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet and had joined the SP, is contesting from Ghosi in Mau.

    Om Prakash Rajbhar (Zahoorabad), Dhananjay Singh (Malhani-Jaunpur) as the JD(U) candidate, and Abbas Ansari, the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, from Mau Sadar seat, are contesting in this phase.

    Campaigning in this phase reached its crescendo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the BJP’s poll blitzkrieg in Varanasi and its adjoining districts.

    Besides addressing election rallies, he also held a roadshow for three Assembly constituencies in his Lok Sabha segment.

    This phase also saw West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee descending on the pilgrim city to hold a joint rally with Akhilesh Yadav and his RLD ally Jayant Chaudhary.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been camping in Varanasi for about four days.

    She, along with her brother Rahul Gandhi, addressed election meetings, whereas BSP supremo Mayawati campaigned in the district and neighbouring areas.

    Seeking to override anti-incumbency, the ruling party raised issues like forced migration and law and order problems during the previous SP government, while Akhilesh Yadav targeted the BJP government on the issues of inflation, unemployment, stray cattle, and the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s agriculture laws.

    The mowing down of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri was also highlighted by all opposition parties as Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is an accused in the case.

    The state has 403 Assembly seats and the results of the elections will be declared on March 10.

  • Those defaming ‘red cap’ forced to wear a cap: Akhilesh Yadav’s swipe at PM Modi

    By PTI

    JAUNPUR: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav Saturday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying those who were “defaming” the SP’s red cap have been “forced by people” to wear a cap, although of a different colour.

    Yadav made the comment at an election rally here apparently referring to Prime Minister Modi donning a saffron cap during his roadshow in Varanasi on Friday.

    This is also being seen as a response to Modi’s attack on the Samajwadi Party last December when he had said in Gorakhpur that people with red caps — the SP’s poll symbol — are “red alert” for Uttar Pradesh.

    Yadav said on Saturday, “Those who have been defaming our caps have been forced by the people of Uttar Pradesh to wear a cap. It is another thing that they have changed the colour of their cap.”

    Yadav was addressing the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls’ last election meeting in Malhani constituency in favour of the Samajwadi Party’s Lucky Yadav.

    The two-month-long campaigning in Uttar Pradesh ended this evening.

    The seventh and final phase of voting in the state will be held on March 7.

    Counting of votes will be held on March 10.

    Attacking the BJP and PM Modi over the saffron colour cap, Yadav said they keep changing their colour.

    Appealing to people to vote for Lucky Yadav, the former chief minister said, “I feel that people of Malhani are going to vote for the Samajwadi Party in a big way, and demolish the rivals.”

  • UP polls: With heavyweights conducting rallies, Varanasi becomes last big battleground

    Express News Service

    VARANASI: With the long drawn, seven phase assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh set to end with voting for 54 seats of nine eastern districts on March 7, Varanasi — one of the oldest living cities of the world – turned out to be the last big battleground of all major political parties and their top leadership on Friday.

    While BJP’s top leader in the country, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who is also the two-time sitting MP from Varanasi) embarked on a long road show through the main city areas, BJP’s prime opponent, the Samajwadi Party chief and ex-UP CM Akhilesh Yadav too carried out a road-show in another part of the same religious city.

    And if that wasn’t all, the Congress party, which is eyeing a revival in its fortunes in these polls, had its two most charismatic leaders, the siblings Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, holding public rallies in rural area, where their candidates have turned the so far direct contest between BJP alliance and SP alliance into multi-cornered battle.

    The prime attraction of the day, however, was PM Modi’s massive road-show, which waded through an unending crowd of city residents and BJP supporters, while covering a distance of 8-odd km, from Maldahiya crossing to Lanka-BHU Gate.

    After reiterating at a public rally in Mirzapur district, the commitment of his government to safely evacuate every Indian stranded in war torn Ukraine at a time when the entire world was going through a very critical, the PM flew to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi at around 4 pm and embarked on the road-show around an hour and 45 minutes delay.

    After garlanding the statue of Sardar Patel, the PM’s road-show travelled to the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor, traversing through various areas of Varanasi North, Varanasi South and Varanasi Cantt assembly segments, amid unending crowds of local residents and supporters, raising slogans in support of their two-time MP.

    The road-show which was dotted with floral welcome at various points by senior BJP leaders, took almost three hours in travelling 3 kms to reach the KV Dham Corridor, where the PM offered prayers at the world famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple, after playing the king size dumroo amid reverberating chants of Kashi’s signature slogan Har Har Mahadev.

    He subsequently travelled through the further crowded areas between Godowlia Crossing and Lanka-BHU Gate (covering major part of Varanasi South and Varanasi Cantt seats), but stopped in between to relish kulhad tea with BJP rank and file at the famous Pappu Tea Shop at Assi Crossing, which for long has been the most talked about political gossip point of the ancient city.        

    This was the PM’s fifth poll-related road-show in Varanasi since 2014, when he first won the LS polls, defeating AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. The Friday’s roadshow was a re-run of the 2017 polls campaigning, when Modi had carried out two back-to-back road-shows in response to UP Ke Ladke Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi’s road-shows. It was largely aimed at galvanizing the party’s rank and file and appealing the electorate in three urban seats, Varanasi South, Varanasi North and Varanasi Cantt, to vote for sitting BJP MLAs (including two ministers) who are facing high anti-incumbency.

    The PM, who would camp in Varanasi for two days, will address a rally at Khajuri (located on the junction of two rural Pindra and Sewapuri seats) where both the BJP candidates are having a tough time against high anti-incumbency.

    The BJP is pinning high hopes on the PM’s two day stay in Varanasi, as a similar campaign by him in the city in 2017, had helped the party not only win all eight seats of Varanasi district, but several seats of adjoining districts also.

    Meanwhile, the Congress leader siblings Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, addressed poll rally in Pindra assembly constituency, where the party’s ex-MLA Ajay Rai (who was a minister in erstwhile BJP government in the past) is strongly contesting against sitting BJP MLA Avdhesh Singh and BSP candidate Babulal Patel.

    Knowing well that the BSP candidate could benefit from division in upper caste votes between the BJP and Congress candidate, Rahul was highly critical of the BSP, terming the elephant symbol party the B Team of the BJP. He also lashed out at the Samajwadi Party for fostering an atmosphere of violence and anarchy during its past rule in UP.

     The last big ticket campaign of the day was a road-show by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who had to travel 1.5 km between Rathyatra Crossing and Girjaghar Crossing, covering parts of Varanasi Cantt and Varanasi South seats. The road-show was on at the time of filing this news report.

  • UP Elections: EC bans Mukhtar Ansari’s son from poll campaign for 24 hours

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  The Election Commission of India, on Friday, put a ban on Abbas Ansari, 30, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) candidate from Mau Sadar seat and son of mafia don-turned –politician Mukhtar Ansari, from poll campaign for 24 hours  as he was caught on camera  issuing open threats to the government officials during a public meeting in Mau district.

    Mau will vote in Phase-7 on March 7. The EC took cognizance of the video clip going viral on social media showing Abbas Ansari delivering a speech during which he said that no government officials would be transferred for the first six months after the formation of SP and alliance government in UP as their ‘hisab-kitab’ (settling of scores) would be done first.

    “I have told Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav that no transfers or postings of any officer or employees will happen for six months as we will settle the accounts first with the UP administration and only then their transfer certificates will be stamped,” asserted Ansari.

    Meanwhile, the Mau police have registered an FIR against Abbas Ansari at Kotwali police under Section 171F (Offence of undue influence or personation at an election) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.

    Besides, registering an FIR against Abbas Ansari, a report has also been sent to Returning Officer of Mau Sadar Assembly seat for initiating appropriate action,” said Sushil Ghule, Mau SP.

    However, taking cognizance of the Mau police report, the election commission acted against Ansari.

    Videos of Abbas Ansari’s controversial remarks were widely shared, prompting police to take cognizance and begin investigations. 

    ADG Law and Order Prashant Kumar verified the authenticity the video and ordered that an FIR be registeredagainst Ansari for violating the Model Code of Conduct.

    When the campaign for the final phase of UP elections is at its peak, the video of Abbas Ansari threatening police officials has gone viral on social media.

    In this video, Abbas Ansari is seen threatening the officers openly from the stage of the public meeting.

    Significantly, Abbas Ansari’s father Mukhtar Ansari is incarecerated in Banda jail in connection with a number of criminal cases of illegal land-grabbing, extortion, murder, and kidnapping.

    Mukhtar, who used to run fearlessly during the previous SP and BSP regimes, is now moving on a wheelchair even in jail.

    Abbas will be facing off with BJP candidate Ashok Singh in the seat, the BSP’s state president Bhim Rajbhar, and Congress nominee Madhavendra Bahadur Singh.

  • Mafia will be set free if Samajwadi Party voted to power: Amit Shah

    By PTI

    AZAMGARH: The mafia serving time in jail will be released if the Samajwadi Party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday, adding that the Akhilesh Yadav-led party and the BSP have “tasted defeat” in the first five rounds of polling.

    Shah also announced free electricity to farmers, gas cylinders to women on the eve of festivities and scooters to young women, if voted to power again in the state.

    “I had promised that the rule of mafia will end in Uttar Pradesh, and in five years, all mafia have been finished. Atiq Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari are in jail under the Yogi Adityanath government. It will not be the same if the SP comes to power in UP and such elements will be released,” Shah said during an an election rally here.

    The SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been defeated in the first five rounds of polling and now the BJP needs votes to ensure that it gets more than 300 seats, the home minister said.

    Hitting out at Akhilesh Yadav, Shah said the SP chief is wearing black glasses so he can see only darkness.

    Hailing the Yogi Adityanath government, he said there has been a sharp decline in the crime rate in the last five years.

    In order to woo women voters and farmers, Shah announced that a free cylinder will be given to every house on the occasion of Holi and Diwali and that free electricity will be provided to farmers for five years if the BJP reassumes power.

    He also announced that jobs will be given to the youth on basis of their qualification while he promised free scooters for young women.

    Hitting out at political rivals, Shah said the opposition parties kept Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, for over seven decades.

    “Our government withdrew it and nobody dared to throw a single stone (in protest),” he said.

    Azamgarh will go to polls in the last phase of the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on March 7.

  • UP elections: Mamata shown black flags in BJP stronghold Varanasi

    Express News Service

    GORAKHPUR: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who landed in Varanasi on Wednesday to campaign in support of Samajwadi Party, was shown black flags while on her way to Dashashwamedh ghat from airport.

    As soon as Mamata proceeded to Dashashwamedh ghat, she was faced protests at several places when BJP supporters showed her black flags first in Chetganj locality and then at Godowliya.

    In Chetganj, on seeing the black flags by a crowd shouting Jai Shree Ram, the west bengal CM lost her cool, stopped the car and came out on the road.

    Pushing the protestors, Mamta dared the BJP workers to come forward with black flags. 

    “You all are losing the elections. These are not black flags but your fear of losing elections,” she shouted on the mike.

    The west bengal CM also shouted the slogan : “Jai UP, Jai Hind.”

    Subsequently, as she proceeded further, she was shown black flags at Gowdowliya. However, the district police pushed the protestors aside.

    On getting the information about protests, SP workers gathered at Godowliya crossing in retaliation. Both the groups of protestors came face to face to be sent away by the cops.

    Then Mamata Banerjee reached Dashashwamedh ghat and paid obeisance at Ganga Mandir. She also watched the famous Ganga Arti while sitting on the stairs of the ghat.

    Mamata is expected to address a couple of rallies along with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in and around Varanasi which will vote in final phase on March 7.

    Mamata is scheduled to stay in Varanasi for the next two days.

    However, in the wake of protests against the west bengal CM, the district administration has beefed up the security.

  • Ex-UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya’s son taken for questioning by police

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR: The son of former UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya, fighting from the Fazilnagar assembly constituency as a Samajwadi Party candidate, was on Wednesday taken to the police station for questioning on the allegation that he was distributing money to people on the eve of polling.

    Kushinagar District Magistrate S Rajalingam gave this information while denying Mauray’s claim that his son Ashok Maurya was arrested in a “false” case of instigating violence against BJP supporters.

    DM Rajalingam denied the allegation saying Maurya’s son has been taken to the police station only for questioning after allegedly being found distributing money to voters on the eve of voting in the area.

    “The information of arrest is totally wrong. We got information in the evening that Swami’s son is distributing money and campaigning and he along with some others were found on the spot in three vehicles and police took him to the police station,” the DM said.

    “He is not a voter of the area and what he was doing there within 48 hours of the poll is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct,” the DM said, adding he has been taken to the police station only for questioning.

    “The information of arrest is wrong. A probe has been initiated in the matter,” the DM said.

    Maurya, a former Cabinet colleague of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, made the claim of his son’s arrest in a social media post soon after two cross-FIR were lodged by the Kushinagar police on Wednesday on complaints by his party supporters and those of BJP candidate Surendra Singh Kushwaha.

    In the FIR and the counter-FIR, each of the two sides has alleged attack on it by the other side.

    The FIR lodged on the complaint of the BJP side accused former UP minister Maurya, his daughter Sanghmitra Maurya, a BJP MP, and son Ashok Maurya of leading and instigating their supporters to attack the participants of a saffron party’s poll procession, police said.

    The second FIR lodged by Maurya’s supporters made similar allegations against Kushwaha, block head Vashisht Rai alias Guddu Rai and others, police said.

    The two FIRs together named 39 people from both side and hundreds of other unidentified people in them, the police said.

    Both sides accused each other of a planned attack and based on their written complaints, FIRs were lodged against 39 named people, including 25 of Maurya’s side and 14 belonging to the BJP side besides hundreds of other unnamed people of both sides, police said.

    “Based on written complaints from both sides, FIRs have been lodged under sections 147, 148, 171-F, 308, 323, 352, 392, 427, 504, 506 of the Indian Penal Code,” Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Sachindra Patel said.

    These sections respectively pertain to rioting, rioting using deadly weapons, exercising undue influence during elections, attempting culpable homicide, causing injury, using criminal force, committing robbery, causing mischief, breaching the peace and issuing threats.

  • Rakesh Tikait urges people to camp near counting centres in UP, claims irregularities can take place

    By PTI

    BAGHPAT: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday urged people to come on tractors and camp near counting centres in Uttar Pradesh, claiming “irregularities” could take place.

    Counting of votes for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will take place on March 10.

    “What was done in the zila panchayat (elections) cannot be ignored. Reach the counting centres a day before the counting is taken up and camp with tractors at the counting sites from March 9 itself,” Tikait told reporters in Baraut in Baghpat.

    He also asked people to reach with beddings a day ahead as they will not be allowed to go there on March 10.

    During the zila panchayat polls held in the state last year, opposition parties had alleged large scale irregularities.

    Attacking the government, Tikait said that the dues of sugarcane farmers in this area had not been paid for a year but in view of elections, pending payments were cleared in 10 to 15 days.

    “I mean, the government can get payments made whenever it wants. If elections are held every year, then payment of sugarcane (farmers) can also be made every year,” he said.

    Slamming the BJP government at the Centre, he said it is looking for votes even in the Ukrainian crisis by making students returning from there give statements on the evacuation operation.

    “Those who give statements in favour of the government are being shown and those who are telling the reality are not being shown. The elections are more important for the Indian government, are children of India not dear to them. (They are) Looking for votes in a war,” Tikait alleged.

  • ‘Dumdaar sarkar’ must for development of UP, only BJP can guarantee it: Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR/SIDHARTHNAGAR/BALRAMPUR: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said a ‘dumdaar sarkar’ (strong government) was a must for the all-round development of the state and only a BJP-led dispensation could guarantee it to the people.

    “Yogi will do everything to make your life easier under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Adityanath said, asserting that he will work for the welfare of all.

    On governments led by other parties, he said the people have been a witness to the workings of three governments led by the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the BJP.

    “You must have noticed the difference (among these dispensations). The previous governments failed to provide safety and security to people, risked youths’ lives and looted money meant for development,” the chief minister claimed.

    “Their governance was extremely poor. Whereas we have ensured safety and security of every citizen while carrying out development programmes as well as welfare schemes for the poor and the needy with total transparency. They provided power after looking at people’s faces, while we provide electricity to everyone,” he said.

    Adityanath said his government provided 5 lakh government jobs in the last five years, and if it is elected again, it would give a job to every family.

    He said none of the earlier governments would have built a Ram temple in Ayodhya which was pending for five centuries.

    Continuing his attack against the SP in Siddharthnagar’s Kapilvastu and Domariyaganj constituencies, Adityanath accused the party of sheltering criminals and goons.

    “The SP blatantly supports criminals. It is evident from the fact that the SP leaders visit houses of murderers and not of victims. They do not care about the sufferings of the people,” the chief minister claimed.

    He said his government has made the state safer while ensuring its development and asserted that women and daughters are blessing the BJP in abundance.

    Adityanath greeted the people on the occasion of Maha Shivratri and compared the current situation with that prevailing five years ago, claiming that only riots took place in the past.

    “There are no riots today, only ‘Kanwar Yatra’ passes through the state with chants of ‘Har Har Bum Bum’,” he added.

    The chief minister alleged that for the Samajwadi Party development meant building boundaries of cemeteries but development for the BJP government it meant providing water, power, ration etc at the doorsteps of people.

    “We’ll give smartphones and tablets to two crore youths,” he said.

    Addressing rallies in Tulsipur and Utraula assembly seats of Balrampur, Adityanath said the district was the ‘karmbhoomi’ of the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and it was touching new heights of development under the BJP government.

    Attacking the SP, he alleged, “The sentiments of our government are with every section of the society but the Samajwadi Party’s support base comprises terrorists.”

    Bulldozers are being used to construct roads as well as to extort money from mafias, he said, adding that when leaders of the SP and the BSP hear about bulldozers they panick.

    “They (opposition) have already made arrangements for their foreign escape on March 11. They have booked their tickets because they know the result. Some (will flee) to England, some to Australia, and the remaining to Nepal,” he claimed, adding that patrolling has been increased on Nepal border and they would not be able to escape.