BJP govt in UP spent 4 years hiding behind rhetoric, lies: Akhilesh

People are counting days as they have decided to remove the BJP from power, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav claimed Monday.

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has spent four years of its tenure hiding behind rhetoric and lies but now the people are counting days as they have decided to remove the party from power, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav claimed Monday.

Referring to the rise in crimes in the state and the government's alleged failure to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, Yadav said, "The double-engine government of the BJP is no longer in a condition to start since it has been standing at the yard and has rusted away. It should now be sent to the sickline of the Railways."

The "double-engine government" is a reference to BJP's pitch that the state will progress more if the same party is in power in it and at the Centre.

The SP chief further claimed that central observers of the BJP camping in the state capital recently accepted that there was no use spending too much energy as this government has to go.

Amid speculations over a possible cabinet expansion and a change in the BJP's organisational setup in the state, the party's general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and vice-president and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Radha Mohan Singh held separate meetings with senior leaders and ministers in the Adityanath government in Lucknow last week.

On Sunday, Singh met Governor Anandiben Patel and Speaker of the Assembly Hriday Narain Dikshit.

The BJP vice-president, however, dismissed all speculations of any change in the party organisation and the government while talking to news persons later.

Yadav, a former chief minister, alleged that the BJP was using new propaganda and tactics to divert attention, and said the entire system has failed in the face of increasing organised crime and criminals protected by those in power.

Unscrupulous criminals continue to commit crimes fearlessly in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home district Gorakhpur, the SP chief said in a statement.

He also claimed that 11 houses near the Gorakhnath temple are being vacated forcefully, and asked how a chief minister will handle a state if his own district is out of his hands.

The BJP government was in a helpless condition during the coronavirus epidemic, and patients continued to die in agony due to lack of treatment and medicines, the SP leader added.