‘Criminals with tickets will seek mercy after Mar 10’

Ghaziabad: Continuing his attack on Samajwadi Party for fielding candidates with criminal backgrounds, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that after March 10 — when the election results are out — all those history-sheeters who have been given tickets by the opposition would once again seek mercy.
“They have a misconception.The rule of law will continue in UP even after March 10.With boards around their neck, they will plead outside police stations that they would run roadside vegetable stalls rather than troubling businessmen and local residents,” Adityanath said at a ‘key voters’ meet’ in Muradnagar. The CM also raked up the Muzaffarnagar riots, Kairana “exodus” and communal tension in Bulandshahr and Moradabad in his 25-minute speech at the meet.
“Riots went on for months in Muzaffarnagar. Later, when the Chaudhuries (of Muzaffarnagar) held an assembly, bullets were fired on the farmers who had attended it. They (SP) have no shame. Those whose caps are stained with the blood of the Hindus and those who had opened fire on Ram bhakts are talking about peace and brotherhood. Before 2017, riots used to happen every third day during the SP regime,” he said.
Referring to former Muradnagar MLA from BSP (2007-2012) Wahab Chaudhary, Adityanath said that a goon had become the local legislator by mistake, but he was sent to jail after the BJP government came to power. Chaudhary was arrested by the Ghaziabad police in connection with a murder case.
He also slammed SP leader Akhilesh Yadav for banning the Kanwar yatra on the pretext of “law and order”. “When our government came, we deployed helicopters to honour the kanwariyas with flower petals and keep an eye on rioters. Now the Kanwar yatra takes place and the atmosphere does not get spoiled,” he said. Accusing SP and BSP of not cooperating with the BJP government during the Covid pandemic and boycotting an all-party meeting called in Lucknow, the CM said, “The situation would have been worse if Covid had come during the tenure of the two opposition parties.”
Taking a jibe at opposition parties, he said that voters gave opportunities to SP, BSP and Congress to run the government for 55 years, "but none of them did anything", adding the teams of "Chacha-Bhatija" (Shivpal Yadav-Akhilesh Yadav), "Bua-Bhatija" (Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav) and "Bhai-Behen" (Rahul Gandhi-Priyanka Gandhi), they don’t have any vision.
This was Yogi Adityanath's fourth visit to Ghaziabad ahead of the state assembly polls.