BJP will bite the dust in UP urban body polls: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said the ruling BJP will bite the dust in the upcoming urban body polls in Uttar Pradesh and termed its election manifesto a "bunch of lies" aimed at "hoodwinking people".

Addressing a press conference in the state capital, AAP national spokesman Ashutosh said that a "jittery" BJP had come out with its 'Sankalp Patra', which had tried to copy the promises the AAP had already made to the people in its manifesto.

The party leader termed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as the "most inefficient Chief Minister in the history of Uttar Pradesh".

Ashutosh said the fact that Adityanath is leading the campaign for the urban body polls while the big leaders of other parties have chosen not to, proves that the BJP is "fighting a lost battle".

"Under the watch of Yogi Adityanath more than five dozen children died in Gorakhpur due to paucity of oxygen, BJP workers are attacking policemen; girl students were cane charged in the Benaras Hindu University...Is this what the BJP is trying to replicate in urban bodies as well?" Ashutosh questioned.

He alleged that both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre and state had failed to keep the promises made to the people during elections. "There is no investment coming, industry has been hit by recession and trade has collapsed post-GST," said the journalist-turned-politician, and said the BJP had also failed to provide security and safety to women.

The AAP leader also attacked the BJP on corruption and said that while it claimed to be a party with a difference, its actions had proved that it is a party in a hurry to "embrace the corrupt". "The BJP leadership has been shouting at the top of its voice on how it had waged a war against the people who are corrupt. Can it justify why it chose to assimilate leaders like Narayan Rane in Maharashtra, Mukul Roy in West Bengal and a convicted politician like Sukhram in Himachal Pradesh?" the AAP leader asked.

State spokesman of the party, Vaibhav Maheshwari, said they had already proved through tangible evidence that the present Deputy Chief Minister and former Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma had "presided over" serious financial bungling and scams running into crores of rupees.

"We have all seen how the BJP has done in its previous tenures... Now they are promising to deliver on their promises. We ask what have they done so far, now that they even have a central government, state government and the municipal corporation of their own?" Maheshwari said.

The party also accused the state government, the central government and the Municipal Corporations ruled by the BJP of doing precious little on the sanitation front.

Chief Minister Adityanath on Sunday released the party manifesto at the BJP headquarters in Lucknow. The Sankalp Patra promises free WiFi at prominent public places and 'pink toilets' for women. Adityanath said that 652 urban local bodies across the state are going to polls, which is the highest number so far. The number also includes 16 municipal corporations.

Uttar Pradesh will witness three-phase civic polls on November 22, 26 and 29. Counting will be held on December 1.

--IANS

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