 "BJP leaders tell lies and make people fight each other, says Akhilesh Yadav")
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday launched a scathing attack against the ruling BJP, asking the party to change its name as he alleged that its leaders tell lies, cheat people and pit them against each other.
The bigger the BJP leader, the bigger the lies he or she tells, the Samajwadi Party (SP) president alleged.
The party should change its name from "Bhajpa" to "Bhajhpa", he said, adding that "jh" in its name meant "jhansa" (cheating), "jhagra" (bickering) and "jhooth" (lies).
The party cheats people, make them fight against each other and its leaders tell lies, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
"They indulge in the politics of accusations. The BJP wants to take the elections to somewhere else," he told reporters referring to the upcoming state Assembly polls.
He rejected the charges that the money recovered from a Kanpur perfume seller during a raid by the central agencies had any link with his party.
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"Nothing can be a bigger lie than this. People sitting at high posts are telling lies," he said, apparently referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has repeatedly linked the seized amount with the Yadav's party.
The SP chief also said woman are feeling insecure in UP under the BJP rule.
The National Commission for Women has got most complaints from UP, he said.
The maximum custodial deaths have taken place in the state, he added.
"We have seen how the son of the Union minister of state for home drove a jeep over farmers. The government wants to shield him. The government wants to crush the Constitution as it has crushed the farmers," he said apparently referring to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Police have arrested Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish for the death of four farmers, who were mowed down by cars, allegedly being driven by BJP workers.
When asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's virtual programme in Bijnor, which was changed owing to weather conditions, Yadav in a lighter vein said, "No, no, it was not due to the weather. There would have been some other reason."
"The Punjab reason could have been behind it," Yadav said, hinting at the Punjab incident, from where PM Modi had to return without addressing a rally after a security breach.
The BJP's rival parties had claimed that he had to return as people did not turn up for the BJP rally, which the PM was scheduled to address.
To another question that UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has termed Akhilesh Yadav as a "sympathiser of the mafia", the SP chief said, "He will be able to see a mafia if he sees himself in a mirror."
Yadav also said if voted to power, the name of Maa Shakumbhari Devi Vishvavidyalaya will not be changed.
Saharanpur will vote in the second phase of the Assembly elections on February 14.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)