Friendship with Ansari, Atiq Ahmed undid Samajwadi Party: UP Dy CM Maurya

Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday claimed that it was the Samajwadi Party's "friendship" with Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari that led to its debacle in the state.

Maurya told reporters at party headquarters here, "Akhilesh Yadav has three friends Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar. Two of them are not alive anymore. But this friendship led to the wiping out of Samajwadi Party."

Gangster-Politician Atiq Ahmed was gunned down in police custody in Prayagraj last year while Mukhtar Ahmed died of cardiac arrest in hospital in Banda last month.

Former cabinet minister Azam Khan is currently lodged in Sitapur jail after being convicted in multiple cases.
 

Maurya said SP and Congress refused the invitation for the inauguration ceremony of Ram temple and the public now will now refuse them their votes.

"It was surprising that even when speaker of Legislative assembly Satish Maahan invited all assembly members to accompany him to visit the Ram Temple, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav stopped his MLAs from visiting Ayodhya against their wishes," he said.

Maurya said that the BJP is working hard to realise the target of 400 seats given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that the party is winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.