Akhilesh Calls Yogi A Blatant Liar, Lashes Out At PM For Lauding Claims Of Free Fair And Peaceful Panchayat Polls

Lucknow, July 11 (TNA) Samajwadi Party (SP) chief national on Sunday came out strongly against the "false propaganda of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claiming that the state Panchayati elections were fair, and free and were conducted peacefully in the state".

At a press conference at the party office, in Lucknow this afternoon, Akhilesh said Yogi was "giving totally false and misleading information to the people".

He was also highly critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "closing his eyes to the ground reality in the state and instead of reprimanding him and demanding him to take stock of the deteriorating law and order situation he was congratulating yogi and his machinery for conducting the polls well and winning them with a huge majority."

“Yeh jantantra ki hatya hain (this is the murder of democracy)" said an angry former UP chief minister. He also charged the district administration of being hand in gloves with the ruling party and said that the police were in collusion with the violators of law and looked the other way.

A highly disturbed Akhilesh told media persons that the situation in UP is scary. He said Yogi and his men have shattered all democratic norms and reduced all parameters of decency to naught.

He expressed concern and said it is shameful the way the state machinery has been used to support violence and prevent candidates from filing their election papers. He said that all the while the ‘pre-directed’ police force followed the orders of higher-ups.

Akhilesh said that in broad daylight the "hired goons attacked and prevented Samajwadi Party candidates from filing nominations and they went as far as to tear off the nomination papers, physically assault women candidates and supporters from SP".

He said media persons who were trying to capture these unlawful acts on their cameras were brutally beaten up. But he said no matter how much Yogi tries he cannot hoodwink the masses who are watching these anti- people's activities being done without fear supported by the state machinery and helped by those officers holding important posts trying to save their jobs.

Yogi has openly threatened to throw anyone out who does not perform which primarily implies those who fail to comply with his orders. The SP chief said that BJP knows that its poor performance in the state will not give them another chance so they are desperate and want to do anything and by hook or crook they want to retain the reign of power.

"You can forgive a person once, maybe twice but certainly not the third time" he said while alluring to Yogi Adityanath, whom he accused of "getting into the habit of speaking blatant lies without any respect of photographic evidence proving just the opposite."