Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the BJP leaders were having sleepless nights because of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in UP and were trying to weaken it.

Addressing a public meeting in favour of alliance candidate and Samajwadi Party general secretary Ramji Lal Suman at Sikandrarau town in Hathras, Akhilesh said, “It is the right of the citizens to ask questions from the government but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not allowing them to do so.”

Terming the BJP’s ‘sankalp patra’ (election manifesto) released on Monday as another ‘fraud paper’, Akhilesh said the party had not yet fulfilled the promises that it made in 2014.

“Not only the BJP government at the Centre but the UP government led by Yogi Adityanath should also give its report card. No employment was generated and false claims were made that the country’s border was safe because of the BJP government. In fact, the jawans (soldiers), who are the sons of ‘kisans’ (farmers), are guarding the border,” he said.

Akhilesh said it was during the tenure of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav as defence minister, that best fighter planes were purchased for the Indian Air Force.

“India will have to face both Pakistan and China if a war breaks out,” he said, alleging that it was Chinese missile that had brought down Indian MIG recently.

“The Prime Minister claims that he belongs to the backward community but should tell the people why the chief minister’s house was washed when I vacated it and Yogi Adityanath came in. We want to know what was going on in Yogi’s mind,” he said.

Akhilesh said the country did not need bullet train but bullet proof jackets for soldiers.

In his 45-minute address, he said the BJP was trying to fool the voters by promising ‘New India’ and added that the grand alliance would make sure that the nation gets a new prime minister.

He alleged that animal slaughter had increased in the BJP regime.

Addressing the people in potato belt, Akhilesh raised the farmers’ issues and the problem of stray cattle damaging their crops.

Questioning the Congress’s promise of giving Rs 6,000 per month to the poor, Akhilesh asked as to what would happen to funds allocated for other schemes.

“There is no difference between the toilets promised by the Congress and the BJP. Both the parties also failed to make arrangement for water,” he said.

Reiterating his stand on reservation, Akhilesh advocated caste-based Census and provision of opportunities accordingly. He added that the ‘dhangar’ community would be given the status of Scheduled Caste if the alliance was voted to power.

Various leaders of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal attended the rally but no one from the family of Ramveer Upadhaya, a prominent BSP leader of area, was present.

First Published: Apr 10, 2019 09:10 IST