Akhilesh Yadav vows 300 units of free power, Yogi takes dig at SP

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said if voted to power in 2022 assembly polls, the SP government would give 300 units of free power to all households in UP every month and free electricity to farmers for irrigation. The announcement came while the former UP CM was addressing party workers who had gathered at SP headquarters in large numbers to wish Akhilesh on the New Year, reports Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui.
“These are the first two promises that will figure in the party manifesto and the people of UP know that SP fulfills all the promises it makes unlike BJP which has failed to fulfill even the first few promises of their Sankalp Patra,” Akhilesh said.
He said the calendar date has changed but for Samajwadi Party and its workers, the New Year will be from the day the government in UP is replaced and SP forms the government after the assembly elections.
Targeting the ruling BJP for Income Tax department raids on the premises of SP MLC Pushparaj Jain, Akhilesh said it was merely a face-saving exercise after ‘Digital India’ faux pas ended up in I-T sleuths raiding a BJP man from whose residence trunks full of bundles of currency notes were found stacked inside the walls of the house. He was hinting at the GST intelligence and I-T raids conducted on Kanpur perfume trader Piyush Jain.
Addressing a rally in Rampur, UP CM Yogi Adityanath launched a counter-attack to Akhilesh’s free power promise. “Today, I heard babua say he will give free electricity to people... when almost all households were in the dark during your regime and people had to still pay bills for electricity? You should apologise to the people,” he said.
Yogi said his party has been “working continuously” for the welfare of the poor, “who were earlier bereft of government scheme benefits under the SP rule”.
(With inputs from Kanwardeep Singh in Bareilly)