SP-Congress must confess that giving ticket to Prajapati was a mistake: Naidu

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress Party should at least confess that giving ticket to Gayatri Prajapati was a mistake and not support him.

"The nomination of Gayatri Prajapati is one of the best examples to prove that SP-Congress is not concerned about the people of Uttar Pradesh. He is an accused in a rape case, but still the Samajwadi Party gave him a ticket to contest the elections. They (SP-Congress) should have at least said in public that it was mistake to give a ticket to Gayatri Prajapati and that we won't support him. Shamelessly, they are campaigning for him," Naidu told ANI.

Naidu said that an area of concern in Uttar Pradesh is corruption, hooliganism and unemployment and the Samajwadi Party has failed to deal with these issues over the last five years.

"There is a negative effect due to SP- Congress alliance in the state. The Congress Party has made the situation of the country worst. Lot of corruption took place during the UPA regime, due to which the people are upset with them and Samajwadi Party was not able to do any major development in last five years. The alliance of both the party is of no use, they will be defeated in the UP elections," he said.

Naidu further said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) main agenda is to bring Uttar Pradesh out of the BIMARU states and added that if the people want development in the state then they should support Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Meanwhile, a total of 23.28 percent voter turnout was recorded till 11 a.m. in the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2017.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the electorate at 17,926 polling booths across 49 assembly seats.

This phase of polling will also cover districts bordering Nepal. The Indo-Nepal border was hence sealed a day before the election process.

The districts going to polls are Mau, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Ballia and Azamgarh. Around 1.72 crore voters, with 94.60 lakh men and 77.84 lakh women, will decide the fate of 635 candidates.

On the other hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading a massive road show in Varanasi.

He will to address public meetings both in Varanasi and Jaunpur.

The seventh-phase of Assembly election is scheduled to be held on Mrach 8.