BSP leaders, including former MP Balihari Babu, former minister Tilak Chand Ahirwar and others with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of sending intelligence officers to his party office and near his house to spy on him.
Speaking to mediapersons here, the former chief minister said: “…I would like to tell the BJP people and people in the government that in my press conference and near my house, they should stop sending Intelligence department officials. In this very auditorium, I had caught an Inspector of the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU)… His name was Bhanu Pratap Rai. Tell me what action did the government take? How can an LIU inspector come here?
Akhilesh made the remark while speaking about a telephonic conversation he had with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the wake of a Samajwadi Party worker showing black flags to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a government event in Prayagraj last month and similar protest at an SP event in Kannauj where a man had chanted “Jai Shri Ram” while asking Akhilesh about what he will do to give more jobs if he becomes CM again.
“He (Adityanath) called me because I did not get an FIR lodged in Kannauj. It was my fault. I have told my workers to not create disturbances at BJP programmes… When I went to Kannauj, what slogans were raised there? And then, when I went to the offices of two news organisations. If you want, I have pictures of a youth. What slogans did you get raised there?” Akhilesh said.
“I also spoke (with the CM) about the cases against (SP MP) Azam Khan (who is in jail along with his wife and son in a forgery case). I told the CM that false cases have been lodged against Azam Khan. He is facing injustice. The entire administration is against him… This is being done because an IAS officer wanted an extension and he got it,” he added.
Akhilesh also slammed the BJP government for not removing hoardings and billboards with names and photographs of 57 people from whom the government seeks to recover “damages” to public properties during the December 19 protests against the new citizenship law (CAA) despite the Allahabad High Court’s order.
“It is illegal and contempt of court. The move to bring in an ordinance proves the High Court and Supreme Court’s observations that the hoardings are illegal. The government is doing illegal deeds. This government does not care about the Supreme Court or High Court… And also, why does the government forgets that several people in the government are accused of rioting,” the SP chief said.
Expressing confidence about returning to power in 2022 , the SP chief said if the BJP could manage to win more than 300 seats in Uttar Pradesh by “spreading lies”, then “with hard work, truth and by bringing people together, we can win 351 seats in 2022”.
Akhilesh also said that during a recent flight to Delhi, he met a palmist who predicted he would win 350 seats in 2022. “He asked me for my right hand. I hesitated, but then I put forward my hand, and he said that I will win 350 seats. I said I will just add one and win 351,” Akhilesh added.
Meanwhile, several BSP leaders, including former MP Balihari Babu, former minister Tilak Chand Ahirwar, and former MLAs Feran Lal Ahirwar and Anil Ahirwar, joined the SP.