'Rioters were felicitated at CM House': Yogi Adityanath fires salvo at erstwhile SP govt

Escalating his attack on the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, CM Yogi Adityanath accused it of protecting rioters and terrorists. Addressing a public gathering in Badaun on Tuesday, Adityanath highlighted the spate of riots that took place in UP during Akhilesh Yadav's tenure as the CM from 2012 to 2017. Moreover, he claimed that the rioters were felicitated in the CM House during this period. Alleging that cases against terrorists were withdrawn when SP was in power, Adityanath brandished his government's zero-tolerance approach to terror. 

UP CM Yogi Adityanath remarked, "When the Samajwadi Party government came to power in 2012, what was the first work it did? The first work of the government was the Kosi Kalan riot. The riots took place in Bareilly, Kosi Kalan, Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow, Kanpur. There was no district where riots didn't take place."

"Previous governments would withdraw the cases against terrorists. Rioters were called to the CM house and felicitated. In our government, no concession is given to terrorists," he added. 

On this occasion, the UP CM also alleged, "Previous governments encouraged cow slaughter and illegal slaughterhouses. Our government not only closed down illegal slaughterhouses but also built shelters for cows. Earlier, smuggling of cows would take place and illegal slaughterhouses were rampant. Today there is no cow smuggling. Today work is going on to remove the blot of cow slaughter from the land of India and Uttar Pradesh."

BJP-SP faceoff in Uttar Pradesh

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP had won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post. Though some BJP leaders made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister, PM Modi put rest to all speculations by lauding UP's governance model during his successive visits to the state.

While Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out forging an alliance with Congress and BSP, he has hinted at allying with his uncle Shivpal Yadav. So far, SP has forged an alliance with Mahan Dal and Rashtriya Lok Dal. Speaking exclusively to Republic TV on October 31, he exuded confidence in SP winning 400 seats in the UP polls.