We do not discriminate between Ramadan and Diwali: Akhilesh Yadav

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegation that his government discriminated against a religion and favoured another.

Addressing an election rally here, in favour of close aide and Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Pawan Pandey, the SP President said his government had ensured better and adequate power supply to all areas and regions, on Ramadan and Diwali alike.

"While we are talking of development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leaders are engaged in graveyards and crematoriums," the 43-year-old Chief Minister taunted.

He dared Prime Minister Modi to swear by the Ganga and Saryu rivers that Varanasi was not getting 24x7 power supply, as Modi had alleged.

During a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur on Sunday, Modi accused the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government of playing the politics of discrimination. "If a village receives funds for a graveyard, then it should also get for cremation grounds... If you provide uninterrupted power supply for Ramzan, then you should also do it for Diwali," Modi said.

Appealing for peoples support and vote for the party candidate, Akhilesh Yadav urged for a second term not only to take the work further but also to ensure peace and communal harmony in the state.

"We want that the SP government is repeated in the state so that the development work we initiated in the first tenure is taken forward," he said.

The SP President also warned the people to beware of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati as she had in the past entered thrice into an understanding with the BJP and formed a government.

He also accused the BSP of transferring its vote to the BJP and it was therefore that not a single candidate of her party made it through to the Lok Sabha.

"These days Bua ji is reading long speeches, just be careful" he said.

--IANS

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