Akhilesh joins alphabet war, defends Vadra

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday joined the ongoing ‘alphabet’ war between the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress’ star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi. 

Virtually ridiculing the much-talked about ‘Gujarat model’, Akhilesh, speaking to reporters after addressing an election rally in Barabanki, about 30 km from here, said that it was nothing but a ‘model of dividing India’. “What is the Gujarat Model? It is a model of dividing India (MODI),” he said.

Akhilesh also downplayed allegations of irregularities in allotment of land to Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra. 

“Earlier, the BJP had been talking about 2G and 3G...now it has been after another G,” he said, apparently referring to the BJP’s reference to Vadra as ‘jijaji’.

The chief minister said that the saffron party was trying to make it (Vadra) a big issue although land was allotted by every government to developers. Modi had earlier used the term ‘RSVP’ (Rahul, Sonia, Vadra and Priyanka) to attack the Gandhi family.