Akhilesh counters Modi's charge of discrimination

Countering prime minister Narendra Modi's charge that his government discriminated in welfare schemes on caste lines, Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday read out the names of beneficiaries of the free laptop and ‘Kanya Vidya Dhan’ (scholarship to girls) schemes and asked Modi to check the facts before speaking.

Addressing a press conference here, Akhilesh accused the prime minister of ‘digressing’ from the issues to ‘divert’attention of the people. “The Centre has nothing to show to the people of the state. The prime minister should reveal what he has done for the people,”, the chief minister said.

Akhilesh also said that Modi's remarks that the students in the state had cheated to pass the examinations had not gone well with the students, who worked hard to get through the exams.