New Delhi: In what may give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fresh ammunition to take on the opposition in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party candidate Mukhiya Gurjar has stirred up a controversy openly lambasting the police and administration in a video that has now gone viral.
Gurjar, who had left the BJP earlier this month and joined the Samajwadi Party, told his audience that he has been in prison for 16 times.
“To hell with the administration. I have been to jail 16 times,” he said, ANI reported.
Gurjar, fielded by the Samajwadi Party from Hasanpur in Amroha, also stated he will loot the current MLA, who has amassed great wealth, and distribute it among his followers once elected.
He also claimed to be a staunch supporter of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“I have always kept Mulayam Singh Yadav’s photograph with me,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Samajwadi Party released another list of 56 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.
Dara Singh Chauhan, a former minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Cabinet, will contest from Ghosi, according to this list. Chauhan left the BJP and formally joined the Samajwadi Party earlier on January 16.
With the declaration of its third list of 56 candidates, the Samajwadi Party has so far declared 254 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Voting for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7.
Polling will be held in 58 assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts, including Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra, in the first phase on February 10.
The counting of votes will be held on March 10.