Modi on back foot, claims Akhilesh

'Modi did not come to Azamgarh as he knew SP was getting all 10 seats in district,' Akhilesh said

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Photo: PTI

Last Updated : Mar 01 2017 | 12:30 AM IST

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday picked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that the people of the state shouldn’t return a hung verdict.

At a public rally in Azamgarh, Akhilesh said the PM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were earlier talking about winning 300 of the 403 seats, but were now indicating they would form a coalition government. “Earlier, the PM and his party leaders were claiming they will win 300 seats. But by the time elections reached Mau, they started talking about a coalition government. Modi did not come to Azamgarh as he knew the SP was getting all 10 seats in the district,” the chief minister said.

On Monday, the PM had said at a rally in Mau the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had colluded to ensure the Uttar Pradesh elections resulted in a hung Assembly so that the two could then bargain for power.

In Mau, BSP chief Mayawati sought votes for jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.

She said his electoral victory would erase his “bahubali (muscleman)” image.

Ansari faces 40 criminal cases, including of murder and kidnapping. He joined the BSP after Akhilesh rejected merger of Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Dal with the ruling SP.

In a related development, a BJP team, led by Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, complained to the Election Commission that names of eligible voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls. Two more phases, with 89 seats, go to polls on March 4 and March 8.

At a public rally in Manipur, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the Centre should make public the contents of the Naga accord, signed by Modi. “The Centre signed the Naga Peace Accord, but nobody knows about its contents. Even Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and the state government are not aware of it. Why are the people of Manipur being kept in the dark about the contents of the agreement?”

The Naga Peace Accord, termed a framework agreement, was signed between the NSCN-IM and the Centre in August 2015, after 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years. The Congress accused the BJP of compromising on the territorial integrity of the state.

At a rally in Imphal on Saturday, the prime minister had accused the Congress government in Manipur of “spreading a false propaganda” on the Naga Accord, and said there was nothing in it that was detrimental to the interests of the state.

Manipur goes to polls on March 4 and 8.