Making his first major promise ahead of the 2022 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said if voted to power, his government would provide 300 units of electricity free of cost to households.
Mr. Yadav also promised free electricity for irrigation to farmers. These two promises would be part of the SP’s poll manifesto, said the former UP Chief Minister.
“It is said that, for the Samajwadi Party there is no difference between its words and actions. As for the BJP, it is said that the BJP people will speak lies,” Mr. Yadav said at the SP headquarters where he was addressing party workers.
Reacting to his promise, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, speaking at a BJP rally, said there was no question of the SP providing free electricity as it was not even able to provide electricity to everyone while in power. “How will you provide free electricity, when you were not able to provide electricity in the first place? Instead, you should apologise to the public for extorting them,” Mr. Adityanath said. Under the BJP rule, both the rich and the poor were getting access to electricity without discrimination, he added.