SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Balrampur (UP): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday, October 10, accepted Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s challenge to contest the upcoming assembly elections from Ayodhya, inviting the Opposition leader to enter the electoral fray from the temple town against him.
Addressing a public meeting here, Adityanath said both leaders should contest from Ayodhya, two days after Yadav dared him to fight the assembly elections from the constituency.
“Akhilesh ji, Ayodhya is our sacred abode. I visit Ayodhya repeatedly to ensure that there is no lapse in its development, and the identity of Uttar Pradesh is not tarnished in any way. It is a centre of our faith and devotion. We go there not to contest elections but for its development,” Adityanath said.
“I invite you to file your nomination from Ayodhya, and I will too, and I’ll try my luck there once. Let it be decided! The fight should be face-to-face,” he said.
CM flays SP over Ayodhya’s development
The chief minister also criticised the previous Samajwadi Party government over the development of Ayodhya, alleging that the city received only three to four hours of electricity then and remained littered with heaps of garbage.
He also alleged that the SP government had imposed restrictions on Ramlila performances and erected barricades in Ayodhya.
“The same Ayodhya is today writing a new chapter of development while giving shape to a new concept of Ram Rajya,” he said.
The exchange comes amid preparations for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, expected to be held early next year.
Yadav had on Thursday challenged Adityanath to contest from Ayodhya, claiming that the BJP has been conducting surveys since the SP announced its candidate and has failed to find a suitable nominee for the seat.
‘SP sold the state, left it in decrepit condition’
At the Balrampur event, Adityanath also accused the SP of misgovernance, protecting criminals and failing to provide employment opportunities to young people.
“The SP is the party that sold the state and left it in a decrepit condition. That is why I say the real meaning of ‘PDA’ is ‘Pradesh Dubao Alliance’ (sink-the-state alliance), he said, referring to Akhilesh Yadav’s coinage for ‘pichhde, Dalit and alpsankhyak (backward classes, Dalits and minorities)’.
Accusing the Opposition party of pursuing dynastic politics, Adityanath said the SP had failed to provide adequate representation to Dalits and backward communities in its Rajya Sabha nominations.
He claimed that one of the two seats won by the SP had gone to party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle, while the other had been given to a wealthy businessman.
Apart from Ram Gopal Yadav, SP nominated Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani, an industrialist and sports administrator, to the Rajya Sabha.
Adityanath also accused successive governments led by the Bahujan Samaj Party and the SP of failing to complete a bridge at Mathura Ghat here, claiming that work progressed only after the BJP came to power.
He said the BJP government has provided government jobs to 9.5 lakh youths over the past nine-and-a-half years and pledged that Balrampur would not be allowed to lag in terms of development.
The Chief Minister said his government has put in place a system to provide assistance and compensation to families affected by disasters within 24 hours and is taking steps to ensure prompt compensation in cases of human-wildlife conflict.
Adityanath currently represents the Gorakhpur Urban Assembly constituency.
The SP won the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, which covers Ayodhya, in the 2024 general elections, with Awadhesh Prasad defeating the BJP’s Lallu Singh.
SOURCE : SIASAT
