Akhilesh raises question over PM's idea of a cashless society

Raising question over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of a "cashless society", Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said that the Centre has not taken any initiative to apprise the rural population of the concept.
"You (Modi) should tell what preparations were made for digital India? Who will teach cashless transaction? How will it reach villages? Youth might be able to do it but what about others?," Akhilesh said during an event here.
"We have given laptops in villages. Over one crore registration has been done so far for our smartphone scheme. You (PM) should tell what have you done? You should know that the government which gives pain to people does not survive," he said.

Comparing the performance of his government with that of the Centre, Akhilesh said, " They should compete with the UP government on development as tremendous work has been done in the state in the past four years."
Quizzed as to why he removed Mulayam from party president
post despite assurances that he will have final say in ticket distribution, Akhilesh said, "If I had got support of only 10 MLAs, I could have lost all respect."

To a question on who was behind the family feud, the 43-year-old SP boss said, "(senior SP leader) Azam Khan sahab has clearly identified who created the rift in Samajwadi Party."

"This is not my party, this party is of an ideology. People who were conspiring against me, had gotten me out of the party. Now it is the responsibility of our generation to take this movement forward," he said.
Asked about BJP making "deteriorating law and order situation" in the state an election issue, he said, "People who are questioning law and order should tell how many sections (of the penal code) were slapped against them. Look at their national president and their state president. There were so many sections slapped against them."
On joining hands with the Congress, he said, "If this friendship works, '27 saal UP Behaal' will become '27 saal UP Khushaal'."

"This friendship will last long," Akhilesh said.
The chief minister, however, refused to acknowledge that SP has revived Congress.
"This can only be said after the results," he said, adding that even he wanted SP to go it alone but was forced into an alliance due to the prevailing conditions.
"I initially wanted we (SP) should go alone, everything was ready but there were people who wanted to stop us. This was an initiative taken by both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress," he said of the new alliance.
Lashing out at BJP for trying to gain political mileage over surgical strikes, he said, "This was not the first surgical strike, people from Army should tell us that it happened in the past as well.