IT raids on perfume dealers have left Akhilesh speechless: UP Dy CM

Rattled by the Income Tax raids on various perfume dealers, including a Samajwadi Party MLC, party chief Akhilesh Yadav will leave the country and go abroad after the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya insinuated on Monday.

Ever since the stink of Samajwadi itr' (perfume) has spread, Akhilesh Yadav has been rattled and become speechless, said Maurya, addressing the BJP's Backward Classes convention at Sikandarpur near here.

Akhilesh Yadav is in the dock and he will go abroad after the BJP victory in polls. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has already gone out, he said, adding the Samajwadi Party will not be able to get more than 47 seats, its present strength in the assembly, in the UP elections.

Taking a dig at Yadav's frequent visit to temples, Maurya said those who fired bullets at kar sevaks' and lathi-charged kanwariyas' have suddenly started remembering Ram.

"Yesterday, Akhilesh ji worshipped Parshuram," he said, adding one who did not follow Lord Ram, how will he follow Parhsuram?

Dy CM Maurya posed a string of questions for Yadav, asking him if he ever visited Ram Lalla's Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Baba Vishwanath's temple in Kashi and the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura before the 2017 assembly elections.

"Yadav woke up and began frequenting temples and shrines only after his party was routed in the 2017 assembly elections," he quipped.

Cautioning people against those who become Hindus only during elections, Maurya said the biggest difference that has come lately is that the goons supporting the SP have begun donning red caps and concealing their skull caps in their pockets.

Akhilesh Yadav should prepare for the 2027 polls, not of the 2022's, as the SP will go into the pages of history, Maurya said.

"The BJP's 2014 storm and 2019 tsunami are still persisting and they will blow away the SP-BSP and gthe Congress like dry leaves. They should stop trying for the 2022 poll," he said.

The Samajwadi Party, which was in power from 2012 to 2017 could win only 47 seats out of 403 s in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 2017 while the BJP alone won 312 and its allies 13. The BJP had also won several Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.