More playing on names in UP campaign

Earlier, Modi had coined 'SCAM' for SP, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati

Last Updated : Feb 23 2017 | 1:14 AM IST

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah (pictured) told a rally at Gorakhpur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh that voters in the state needed to free themselves of 'Kasab' if they wanted development.

Shah said that lest he was misunderstood, by Kasab he meant ‘Ka’ for Congress party, ‘Sa’ for Samajwadi Party and ‘B’ for Bahujan Samaj Party. Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani terrorist caught alive during the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai. After a trial, he was hanged in November 2012.

“Until and unless Kasab is laid to rest, development and prosperity will continue to elude UP,” the BJP chief said in Chauri Chaura.

Shah’s reference comes on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s insinuation that the Samajwadi Party government had provided more money for Muslim graveyards than for Hindu crematoriums and that power supply was better during Muslim festivals Eid and Ramzan than when Hindus celebrated Holi and Diwali.

Earlier, Shah had alleged the SP government distributed laptops only to people of particular castes and religion.

This isn’t the first of the acronyms of this election. The PM had coined ‘SCAM’ for SP, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. Akhilesh Yadav responded by saying that ‘SCAM’ stands for ‘save the country from Amit Shah and Modi’.

Modi also said ‘BSP’ stood for ‘Behenji Sampatti Party’. Mayawati has said ‘BJP’ stands for Bharatiya Jumla (empty slogan) Party, and the initials of Modi’s name stood for ‘Negative Dalit Man’.

No post-poll alliance

BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday ruled out any post-poll alliance with the BSP or any other party in the event of a hung Assembly in Uttar Pradesh, confident that the party will get a “full majority”, said a PTI report.

As UP gears up for the fourth phase of the seven-phase Assembly elections on Thursday, Shah, 52 , also said that the BJP not naming a chief ministerial candidate was part of the party’s poll “strategy”.

“Kisi se bhi haath milane ka dur-dur tak koi swaal nahin uthatha (there is no question by far of joining hands with any party),” he said, when asked during an interview to PTI if the BJP would be willing to ally with the BSP or any other party to form a government in the state if it fell short of a majority. The comments by Shah come against the backdrop of some poll surveys and political experts projecting a hung Assembly in UP, given that all the three players — the SP-Congress, BSP and BJP — have a robust set-up and a loyal social base in the state.

Shah, who has campaigned extensively in UP, acknowledges the importance of the poll outcome in the state to 2019 Lok Sabha polls but at the same time he feels that the results would be even more crucial for the country’s development. Working hard to recreate the magic of 2014 that gave BJP 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the face of stiff competition from the SP-Congress alliance and Mayawati’s BSP, the BJP chief answered questions on the elections in UP and four other states and their importance to the party as well as to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has also campaigned intensely in the country’s biggest state.