Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday sought to pick holes in Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's oft-repeated claims of cracking down on criminals and mafias in the state.
He shared a video purportedly showing former MP Dhananjay Singh, an accused in a murder case and a declared absconder, playing cricket after inaugurating a cricket tournament in Jaunpur district.
"Babaji (read Adityanath) should form a cricket team of top ten mafias, who are close to him, and name it Mafia BJP League on the lines of IPL... the district police chief has laid a pitch for the team and he (Yogi) is, of course, captain... so the team is complete," Akhilesh said in a post on Twitter.
He also shared a twenty-second video showing Singh practising a shot as some spectators look on.
The SP president said that the mafias, who were 'close' to the CM were playing cricket but the 'bulldozer' of the "double engine" government had no inkling about the same.
"The people are watching everything... BJP will be wiped out in 2022," he said.
Singh was accused of murdering a former Block president from Mau district in the state Ajit Singh in the state capital in January last year. A cash reward of Rs 25,000 has also been declared on him.
Akhilesh's remarks came amid allegations that the BJP government in the state was not acting against criminals and mafia elements belonging to a particular caste (read Thakur) while targeting those from Brahmin and other communities.
Prime minister Narendra Modi had also, during his speeches at public meetings in UP, heaped praise on Adityanath for acting against criminals and mafias.
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