UP Needs ‘Yogya’, Not Yogi Govt: Akhilesh Yadav Taunts BJP, Claims To Have 'Crossed' 300 seats

“Uttar Pradesh needs a “yogya” (competent) government and not a Yogi government,” he said in an apparent taunt directed at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav (File Photo: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Taking a jibe at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, former chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said the state needs a “yogya” (competent) government and not a Yogi government.

“Uttar Pradesh needs a “yogya” (competent) government and not a Yogi government,” he said in an apparent taunt directed at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

READ: UP Election | ‘Most Popular Political Figure’: PL Punia Says Priyanka Gandhi To Be Face Of Congress Campaign

Alleging the BJP “has no work to do” aside from changing names, he said: “It believes in filling pockets instead of potholes.”

Yadav, who was speaking to reporters at the party’s headquarters in Lucknow after former Uttar Pradesh Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief RS Kushwaha and former MP Kadir Rana joined the Samajwadi Party, reiterated his party's demand for a caste census.

He said that Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav had during the rule of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) demanded that a caste census be done.

Yadav also lashed out at the BJP over Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agarwal filing nomination for the deputy speaker's post in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly with the ruling party’s support.

“Which party does the candidate put up by the BJP belong to? What can be expected of a government which inaugurates already inaugurated projects, and lays foundation stone of the projects, for which the foundation stone has already been laid?” he asked, PTI reported.

The Samajwadi Party leader also rubbished claims of factionalism in his party and claimed the BJP will not give tickets to 150 MLAs in the 2022 assembly elections.

“It has been heard that BJP is going to cut tickets of its 150 MLAs. 100 MLAs have been protesting in the state Assembly against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. We already have 50 MLAs. So the calculation is simple, we have crossed 300 seats,” he said, ANI reported.