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Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav today took a swipe at the electronic media for purportedly censuring the state over law and order issue.
Speaking at an official function here, he claimed some news channels were always critical of his government over the law and order situation.
He referred to the last year's Badaun incident, in which two local girls were found hanging from a tree after alleged rape and murder. However, a CBI probe later concluded the two cousins had in fact committed suicide.
The CM questioned the wide publicity given to the incident by the media when the incident first came to light.
He also recalled a debate programme on a news channel, in which a panelist questioned Yadav's knowledge about agriculture.
"No one should have any doubt about my knowledge about flora and fauna," he underlined to a bemused audience comprising senior cabinet ministers, bureaucrats, police officials, industrialists, media etc.
Yadav noted since UP was mammoth sized both in terms of population and geography, he could understand that the state was always in focus.
"UP is the state which has produced prime ministers and it actually defines the contours of national politics. This is the reason why it also attracts more criticism," he observed.
Meanwhile, he accused the Centre of not cooperating with the state government for development projects.
"Although, the Centre speaks about helping UP, it does not offer any help," Yadav said referring to the still awaited nod of the Public Investment Board (PIB) for the Lucknow Metro Rail project, which is already underway and is projected to be completed by October 2016.
Yadav flayed the opposition parties for trying to find fault with state government projects.
"When we run more ambulances to help victim of road accidents, the opposition parties claim the road accidents have increased. When we run helpline for women facing obscene phone calls and SMS, the opposition claims such incidents have reported a spurt," he said.
