Tag: Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections

  • Assembly polls: Record seizure of cash, drugs from Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A record Rs 328 crore worth of inducements to voters such as cash, liquor and narcotics have been seized in Uttar Pradesh since the announcement of the assembly poll schedule on January 8, Election Commission sources said on Thursday.

    The cumulative seizure of such illegal inducements in the five poll-going states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab — stood at Rs 1,039.50 crore, the sources said, adding that it included drugs worth Rs 571.34 crore.

    The seizure figure in Uttar Pradesh up to Thursday was Rs 328.33 crore, 1.70 times more than the total combined seizure of Rs 193.29 crore in the entire assembly polls held in 2017 in the state.

    Like last time, this time too assembly polls in the state are being held in seven phases.

    While voting is over in Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur still have one phase each to go.

    The commission, the sources said, has been laying special emphasis on inducement-free elections and curbing the malaise of undue money power, liquor and freebies.

    A total of 128 expenditure observers have been deployed in Uttar Pradesh for effective monitoring.

    Over 1,800 flying squads and 2,104 static surveillance teams were operationalised to check movement of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies in Uttar Pradesh.

    Eight air intelligence units of the Income Tax Department have been formed in Uttar Pradesh.

    Voting for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls began on Thursday morning, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several prominent faces among the 676 candidates who are contesting on 57 seats spread across 10 districts.

    Around 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.

    Till now, voting for 292 of the 403 Assembly seats has been completed.

    The final phase of the elections in the remaining 54 seats will be held on March 7.

  • BJP is ‘losing’ in Uttar Pradesh: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee while campaigning for Samajwadi Party

    By PTI

    VARANASI: Describing herself as a “fighter”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that she was attacked by BJP workers after she arrived for campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in support of the Samajwadi Party.

    “I was coming from the airport yesterday and going to the (Dashashwamedh) ghat. Midway, some BJP workers, who have nothing in their brain except violence, stopped my vehicle. They hit my car, pushed me and told me to go back,” Banerjee claimed.

    “It was then that I thought, they are going out (of power). They are completely gone, their defeat is imminent,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said.

    Banerjee said she was in Uttar Pradesh for a political meeting and wondered why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was so bothered about it.

    “I am not a coward, I am a fighter. I have fought for a long time. The CPM attacked me in the past, I was attacked with sticks and shots were fired at me several times in the past. But I never bowed down,” she added.

    Banerjee said when “abuses were being hurled” at her on Wednesday, she got down from the car and stood silent for some time to see what the attackers could do.

    “I wanted to see what you can do. How much strength you have. But you are a coward. I saw it and thanked them. They attacked my car, pushed me. I said thank you because I knew the message is clear that the BJP is losing, why else attack me,” she claimed.

    She said if her coming to Uttar Pradesh once can ensure BJP’s defeat, she would come to the state a thousand times.

    “It’s not so easy, Khela hoga,” Banerjee said, referring to the Hindi variation of the Bangla phrase which was the poll anthem of the TMC in West Bengal elections last year in which it defeated the BJP.

  • Centre should realise humanity is more important than politics: Mamata Banerjee on Russia-Ukraine crisis

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Asserting that it is the Centre’s responsibility to bring back Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the Union government should realise that humanity is more important than politics.

    She also urged the NDA government at the Centre to take lead in peace talks.

    “It is the Union government’s responsibility to bring back Indians stuck in war-hit Ukraine. The Centre should ensure safe return of all the stranded Indians. I am in favour of peace, not war. The COVID-19 pandemic has already destroyed a lot. India can lead talks to maintain world peace,” Banerjee said.

    Her comments came a day after a medical student from Karnataka’s Haveri district was killed in intense shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, marking India’s first casualty in the war.

    Banerjee was speaking to reporters here before leaving for Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the Samajwadi Party in the ongoing assembly polls there.

    “Humanity is more important than politics and the central government should realise this. Lives of students are more important than politics,” she said.

    Asked whether her request for an all-party meeting has received any response, Banerjee said, “I have done my duty. Now it is for them to decide. Maybe they are busy with elections.”

    Banerjee had offered unconditional support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Ukraine crisis and requested him to consider calling an all-party meeting to take a united stand on the issue.

  • Sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh polls on Thursday to decide fate of big-wigs, including Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The sixth round of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will see voting for 57 seats on Thursday sealing the fate of political heavyweights such as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Congress’ Ajay Kumar Lallu and Samajwadi Party’s Swami Prasad Maurya.

    With voting for 292 out of 403 assembly seats over, the polling has now moved to the Purvanchal region of the state where 111 seats are up for grabs.

    Of the remaining constituencies, 57 seats, spread across 10 districts, will go to the polls on Thursday and 54 in the final phase on March 10.

    The districts where polling is to be held on Thursday are Ambedkarnagar, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia.

    These 57 assembly segments, of which 11 are reserved, are crucial for the BJP.

    In the 2017 assembly polls, it had won 46 of these seats.

    Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Ajay Kumar Shukla said the campaign for the sixth phase ended at 6 pm on Tuesday and all preparations for voting have been completed.

    Among the 676 candidates in the fray this time are Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban fighting his first assembly polls, state Congress president Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj seat and Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit as BJP minister to join the Samajwadi Party, from Fazilnagar.

    The Samajwadi Party has pitted the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath.

    Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also a contesting against the chief minister.

    Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is contesting from Bansdih.

    Many incumbent ministers’ electoral fate will also be decided in this phase.

    They include Surya Pratap Shahi trying his luck from Pathardeva seat, Satish Chandra Dwivedi from Itwa, Jai Pratap Singh from Bansi, Shree Ram Chauhan from Khajani and Jai Prakash Nishad from Rudrapur.

    Surendra Singh, the incumbent MLA from Bairia in Ballia, who joined the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), a new entrant in Uttar Pradesh electoral politics, will face the electorate in this phase.

    He had crossed over to the VIP after being denied a ticket by the BJP.

    The campaigning in this phase witnessed the political parties go on an all-out attack on each other.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attacked the BJP’s rivals by tagging them as ‘ghor pariwarvadi’ (staunch dynasts) who, he claimed, can never make India capable or Uttar Pradesh empowered.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi rebutted by saying the BJP was only against her family, which has not bowed down to the saffron party.

    Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy of ending reservation and “selling” government organisations to the private sector.

    There are a total of over 2.14 crore voters in this phase.

  • Uttar Pradesh elections: Voting percentage for all phases same as in 2017 polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Voters’ turnout in almost two-thirds of the assembly seats during five rounds of polling in Uttar Pradesh is more or less the same as in the 2017 polls, leaving political parties and experts guessing whether it’s pro-incumbency or anti-incumbency votes.

    A look at the voters’ turnout in the 2019 general elections in the state also doesn’t reflect much of a difference. While some attribute it to coronavirus, others say voters have tested all the parties in the polls and hence are not enthused by new poll promises made by the competing parties.

    Out of the seven-phase elections, the politically important state has completed five rounds and the rest two are lined up on March 3 and March 7. Results will be declared on March 10 along with that of Punjab, Uttrakhand, Goa and Manipur.

    The opening phase of the elections on February 10 saw a voter turnout of 62.43 per cent in the 58 assembly constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh. It was 63.47 per cent in 2017 and 61.84 per cent in the last general elections.

    But, Kairana which had earlier hit the headlines because of reported migration due to bad law and order saw a leap from 69.56 to 75.12 per cent voting this time.

    As per data available with the election office, the second phase of polling on 55 assembly segments on February 14 registered 64.42 per cent vis-a-vis 65.53 per cent five years back and 63.13 per cent in the last Parliamentary elections.

    The hot seat Rampur of jailed SP leader Azam Khan saw almost a ditto voters’ turnout at 63.92 per cent vis-a-vis 63.97 in 2017.

    The third phase which saw voting in the Karhal constituency from where Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is contesting witnessed a 62.28 voting percentage as compared to 62.21 per cent five years back and 59.73 in the last general elections.

    Reports suggest it is the second-highest voting percentage in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s bastion, after 71.4 per cent in 1974.

    The fourth round on February 23 which saw voting in the state capital Lucknow among others on 59 seats, saw nearly 61.52 per cent voting as per voters turnout App of the Election Commission as compared to 62.55 per cent in 2017 and 60.3 per cent in 2019.

    Fifth-round on 61 seats including that in Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Amethi and Raebareli on February 27 witnessed 57.32 per cent voting while it was 58.24 in 2017 and 55.31 in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    For the sixth phase on March 3 which will see voting in the high-profile seat of Gorakhpur Urban from where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is in the fray, the challenge is to cross the voting percentage of 56.52 in 2017.

    So is in the last round on March 7 which includes Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency where the 2017 mark was 59.56 per cent.

    It was 57.48 in the last parliamentary polls. On voters’ turnout, Yogi Adityanath says it’s more and less the same as last time and it means things are going in the right direction. Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, when contacted, told PTI, “I wonder why the voter turnout has not increased this time. It could be because the voters’ education efforts were less this time?”

    Sanjay Kumar (Professor and Co-Director of Lokniti, a Research Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies) told PTI, “If you compare with the previous elections, the turnout is not very low. It varies by 1-2 per cent.”

    “Normally, whenever people decide to change the government, there is an atmosphere about it, which in turn increases the turnout. This was visible in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, as the polling percentage increased as compared to the 2009 elections,” he said.

    “There is ‘udaaseentaa’ (indifference) in the minds of the voter (towards voting). Now, whether it is indifference towards anti-incumbency or pro-incumbency, it will be known only after the results are declared,” the psephologist said.

    State BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said, “Irrespective of the voters’ turnout, the BJP voters are coming out of their home and voting for the party. However, the same cannot be said about other political parties, as their voters seem to be inactive. This can be possibly due to the rift within the SP-led alliance.”

    Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajpal Kashyap said that discrepancies in the voter list and people moving out of the state for work after easing in the covid situation have reduced the polling percentage. “However, the SP is gaining ground in every phase,” he said.

    His Congress counterpart Ashok Singh said, “It is a festival of democracy, and the party is contesting with full energy. We will throw surprising results. The slogan ‘ladhki hoon, ladh saktee hoon’ has ushered in a political revolution.”

    Manoj Goswami (75), a resident of Lucknow central assembly constituency, said, “I did not cast my vote fearing that I will get infected with COVID-19.” Sushil Kashyap, a tea seller in Lucknow Latouche road says, “We have seen all the parties’ governments. They all are almost the same.”

    Amid inertia shown by many voters, the five phases witnessed some pleasant examples. In Prayagraj’s Allahpur, 78-year-old Bhuri Pathak suffering from a hip fracture went to the polling station in an ambulance to exercise her franchise.

    In Lucknow, a mother who delivered a baby, turned up at a polling booth the next day. There are over 14.66 lakh first-time voters (18-19 years old) in UP polls this time. Overall more than 52 lakh names of new voters were added for the 2022 polls.

    The count of total voters in UP polls is over 15.02 crore. Due to the COVID pandemic, the Election Commission has extended voting time by an hour.

  • BJP only working for ‘big businesses’: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    RAEBARELI: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said BJP has forgotten it’s “raj dharma” of serving the common people and is only working for big businesses.

    She said this while addressing a rally in Jagatpur area of Raebareli asking people to watch out for those who use “religion and caste” to get votes.

    “BJP leaders have forgotten their religion of serving people. The religion for them has become a means to instigate people to get votes. The government is not following ‘raj dharma’ of serving people,” Priyanka said.

    Talking about inflation, she said the prices of gas cylinder and musterd oil have gone up.

    “You earn Rs 200 daily and a bottle of mustard oil is of Rs 240,” she said.

    She spoke of unemployment among youths and the plight of farmers in the state accusing the government of stoking religious sentiments to divert people’s attentions from these issues.

    The leader also alleged unnecessary expenditure by the centre overlooking the money it owed to the farmers.

    “The entire due amount of sugarcane farmers is Rs 14,000 crore but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has bought two aeroplanes worth Rs 16,000 crore for himself. He is visiting the world in them but not paying the dues of the farmers,” she said.

    “Congress government waived of loans of farmers but these days the loans of big businessmen are being waived,” the leader said.

    Priyanka alleged people are forced to pay electricity bill in every situation even if they don’t get electricity.

    “The three major schemes of BJP are a free cylinder, free ration, and some money you get in your banks.

    “Can the future of your children be strengthened only by free gas cylinder, free ration, and some money. The government must provide jobs and support businesses, something that’s not being done,” she said The Congress leader accused the government of callousness saying Modi didn’t bother to meet victims of Lakhimpur violence, and came up with an apology to protesting farmers only when the election were round the corner.

    “Prime minister visited so many countries in the past few years including Pakistan but has not gone to meet the protesting farmers. The Prime Minister came and apologised for the farm laws just before elections.

    “Why did they wait for a year to do it resulted in death of 700 farmers,” she said.

    Priyanka also attacked Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying she never saw him working for people in her three years of work in Uttar Pradesh.

    “I have been actively working in UP for the last three years but never saw Akhilesh Yadav leave his house. Just before elections he has come out in his bus to seek votes. In the last three years Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati were nowhere to be seen.”

  • Uttar Pradesh elections: Rampur’s fierce battle centres around Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan

    Express News Service

    RAMPUR (UTTAR PRADESH): One of the most keenly anticipated contests in Uttar Pradesh is taking place in the Muslim-dominated seat of Rampur, where jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan is up against Congress’ Kazim Ali Khan and BJP’s Akash Saxena.

    What lends an edge to this contest is how Kazim and Saxena are trying to corner the nine-time MLA, and arguably the tallest Muslim leader in the state, Azam Khan. In fact, as one travels around Rampur, it can be seen that all poll-related conversations are polarised around just one subject – Azam Khan.

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    Against him pitted is his old rival Kazim Ali Khan, son of the last Nawab of Rampur, whose parents won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat seven times on Congress ticket. The other contender, Saxena, also has a history with Azam, as his father, former BJP minister Shiv Bahadur Saxena, lost the Assembly polls from this seat to Azam Khan way back in 1989. Saxena, a lawyer, is responsible for more than half of the cases filed against the SP leader.

    During his poll campaign 46-year-old Saxena boasts about filing 30 of the over 100 FIRs against the SP veteran while Kazim claims he is the one who is to be credited for exposing Azam. “Saxena may have followed up on a few cases but people of Rampur know that I am the one who filed the very first complaint and exposed the many frauds and crimes of Azam Khan and his family,” Kazim says.

    He adds that Azam Khan’s “so-called development was only for himself”. 

    According to retired government employee Ramesh Pandey, this election is about development and good law-and-order brought about by Yogi Adityanath versus Azam Khan’s work in Rampur. “It is true that Azam Khan brought unparalleled development to Rampur but we have to think holistically this time,” Pandey says.

    CLICK HERE FOR COVERAGE ON UTTAR PRADESH ELECTIONS

    Panwesi Lal, who works at a shoe shop, has a different view. “Rampur is way ahead in development compared to other places in UP so, Azam Khan has to be brought to power again,” he said.

    Lal’s co-worker Ashok Kumar agrees but says Azam Khan’s absence from campaigning has made things difficult for the SP leader, so much so that he could lose his seat for the very first time.

    Lal doesn’t let Kumar finish his argument and points to the e-rickshaw going past saying, “Doesn’t matter that Azam Khan is in jail but people like those who got jobs through e-rickshaws are there to vouch for him.”

    Many in Rampur agreed with Lal’s view. Fahim Khan, a lawyer in the city, said, “Azam Khan’s absence will only bring more votes for Khan as his work is there for everyone to see.”

  • Uttar Pradesh polls: PM Narendra Modi seeks vote for peace for all, security of women in Saharanpur

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Commencing his poll campaign by addressing first physical rally in Saharanpur, the western tip of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon the voters to support riot-free and peaceful state, criminals behind the bars and security for women.

    The Prime Minister addressed his rally while the first phase of voting was on over 58 seats across 11 western UP districts including those adjoining Saharanpur like Shamli and Muzaffarnagar. In all, the fate of 623 candidates was at stake in the first phase of voting on Thursday.  

    However, Saharanpur will go to polls in the second phase on February 14 when voting would be held on 55 seats across nine districts of western UP.

    Reaching out to other half of the population, the PM stressed that the BJP government was essential for Uttar Pradesh to maintain a secured atmosphere for the women to grow without fear. Claiming that BJP wanted the women to contribute to nation-building, he said that all the sectors were being opened for them. He also raised the issue of triple talaq in Saharanpur where Muslims make around 42 per cent of the population.

    Amid the raging row over hijab in BJP ruled Karnataka, the PM pitched in favour of Muslim women saying the BJP government freed them from the clutches of atrocities in the name of triple talaq by bringing a law against the practice. 

    “When Muslim women started openly supporting Modi government, opponents and self-acclaimed saviors of religion got anxious and started suppressing the voice of Muslim women. But we stand with every Muslim woman,” PM Modi said.

    The PM launched an attack on SP-RLD alliance leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhury respectively over the alleged arrogance and compared them with the SP-Congress alliance in 2017 reminding people of its fate then.

    The PM harped on Muzaffarnagar riot rhetoric of the BJP and reminded people of Saharanpur Muslim-Sikh riots of 2014  urging them to vote for peace and security which, he claimed, would take the state on path of development. The PM repeated the ‘pariwarwadi’ (dynastic politics) jibe on SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. 

    “Those who are limited to safeguard the interest of their family will not go beyond it again if given a chance,” said Modi.

    He cited the example of how round-the-clock power supply and infrastructural development were limited to a few native districts of those who were at helm in previous government.

    “Had they been in power during the pandemic, the vaccines would have been sold off somewhere on the way and would not have reached you,” he added. PM claimed that big promises made were usually empty. They [previous governments] promised electricity but kept UP in dark,” he maintained. 

    “What is the harm in making promises as they know that they would not come to power so the question of fulfillment does not arise,” quipped the PM while taking a jibe of opposition for offering freebies.

    Reiterating the BJP tagline of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, the PM claimed that the benefits of the welfare schemes were extended to all sections of society equally in the BJP rule. He reached out to the farmers especially the cane growers promising them that their interests would be taken care of in future as well.

    He claimed that the BJP government was necessary for UP to ensure the poor continue to get houses and free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh at good hospitals.

    “For money to continue to reach farmers’ accounts directly, BJP government is necessary in UP. For the poor to get ration during the pandemic, BJP is necessary,” he said.

    The BJP’s manifesto for UP polls was one of public welfare and that the double engine government had done a lot in the state, said the PM cautioning the people against voting for those who were eyeing an opportunity to take revenge of the action taken on criminals whom they were patronizing.

  • Don’t believe in opinion polls: BSP supremo Mayawati to voters

    By PTI

    BAREILLY: BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday took a swipe at the opinion polls conducted by the electronic media and asked voters not to take them seriously.

    Addressing an election meeting here, the BSP chief cited the opinion polls done in the 2007 Assembly elections, in which her party was shown at the third spot, but it won and formed its government.

    “When the Assembly elections were held in UP in 2007, the opinion polls were telling that the BSP would remain at No.3 but the BSP came at No.1. The party, which was being shown at No.1 was pushed to No.3. Don’t believe in opinion polls,” the BSP supremo said.

    Attacking her political opponents, she said the Congress has not done any work for the Dalits and poor.

    “The Congress has always been anti-Dalits,” she said.

    On the Samajwadi Party, she said, “The goons and the mafia dominated the scene during the SP government. It was a government of riots and loot.”

    She also accused the BJP of being casteist and spreading hatred on the basis of religion.

    “The policies of the BJP and the RSS are casteist, and spread tension and hatred in the name of religion,” she said.

    She said crime has increased during the BJP government while the Dalit and backward classes have been unable to get the benefit of reservation.

  • AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi declares ex-Uttar Pradesh Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha as his front’s CM face

    By PTI

    AMROHA: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday declared former state minister Babu Singh Kushwaha as the chief ministerial candidate of his party’s pre-poll alliance “Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha”.

    The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief made the announcement while also launching a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in an election rally in Hasanpur here.

    “If the Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha forms its government in UP, Babu Singh Kushwaha will be its first chief minister,” said Owaisi, who had earlier said that if his pre-poll alliance is voted to power, he will have two chief ministers in UP.

    Owaisi, however, had not explained under what provision of the Constitution, he would have two chief ministers in a single state.

    In his Hassanpur rally, he also promised to have three deputy CMs for the state.

    “We have also decided that there will be three deputy chief ministers in UP of which one will be a Muslim and two others from the most backward section of the society,” he added.

    For the UP assembly elections, the AIMIM had forged a pre-poll alliance ‘Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha’ on January 22 along with Kushwaha’s Jan Adhikar Party and the Backward and Minority Community Employees Federation, headed by Waman Meshram.

    A minister in the Mayawati government, Kushwaha had been made convener of the Morcha.

    Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he asserted that he has the courage of speaking with Modi while looking in his eyes.

    “If the BJP is doing something wrong, I will raise my voice against it. This country was liberated by our ancestors. We got this country free with our blood. This country is mine and everyone else’s,” he asserted.

    “But today when the BJP talks about changing the secular character of this country, Owaisi will look into the eyes of Modi and speak and he will continue to do so,” he said.

    The Hyderabad MP also attacked UP Chief Minister Adityanath, calling him “Baba” and saying that he has only one solution to all problems: Defeat Mughals.

    “If anyone thinks my voice will be suppressed for speaking against the UP chief minister, remember that as long as I am alive, I will keep speaking the truth. Your power will not suppress me,” said Owaisi.

    Accusing the Adityanath government of inaction, he said, “Baba’s government was there for five years but Baba did nothing. If you talk about your problems with Baba, Baba will just say, ‘O young man, you vote for us, we have to defeat the Mughals.”

    “And the SP-BSP will say that you vote for us and defeat the BJP,” he said, adding: “They say the BJP wins only because of the Majlis entering into the electoral fray.”

    Owaisi also took digs at the chief minister’s various other purported remarks during the ongoing electioneering.

    “Yogi Adityanath says he will create cold in May-June. Chief Minister, you should become a meteorologist. You (Yogi) say that you will remove the heat (garmi nikal denge), Are you a doctor of dysentery, is Baba selling Isabgol?” he asked.

    “Listen to our message, Baba. The heat that Majlis has created in youths, will neither be reduced by your heat nor your cold. The heat we have created is on the foundation of truth, on the basis of reality to get respect and to gain our share. Even if I die, these people will go ahead with our message,” he asserted.

    “I want freedom from radical forces. I want freedom from those parties who are fielding RSS candidates and are telling me that you do slavery. I want brotherhood so we have formed the morcha,” the AIMIM chief said in his rally.