New Delhi: Taking on Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav for his outburst against the government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said it was a “stunt” on part of the previous regime to sanction token amount for a project prior to the elections and citing example of the Purvanchal Expressway added that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is focused on all-round development of infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh.


Adityanath was reacting to Yadav’s accusations that the BJP government has not been able to launch any new project of its own but only taken forward the previous regime’s projects.


“Sanctioning token amount for a project two months prior to the elections and not approving the tender and leaving the project halfway doesn’t merit any claim to their point. It was a stunt,” Adityanath told News18 in an exclusive interview.


“We have reappraised the projects, brought the cost down via a new tender and executed it within time which speaks volumes of how focused we are for all-round development of infrastructure in the state,” he added.


The Chief Minister further said Uttar Pradesh, which was earlier known for poor infrastructure, is now accelerating towards expressway success by building the country’s longest expressway network of approximately 1,321 km.


Adityanath’s remarks come as the Samajwadi Party chief had earlier accused the BJP government of not fulfilling the promises made in 2017 and re-inaugurating the projects launched by his regime.


This war of words between the ruling BJP and Samajwadi Party come as the the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections draw closer.