PDA 'parivar development agency', Akhilesh its chairman: UP deputy CM takes dig at SP

Gonda: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday targeted opposition parties, especially the Samajwadi Party (SP), saying its "PDA" is basically a "parivar development agency", in which Akhilesh Yadav is the chairman and his family members are directors.

Maurya said this while talking to reporters after he paid tributes to former king of Mankapur state and former Uttar Pradesh minister late Kunwar Anand Singh in Gonda district. The deputy chief minister also met Singh's son, Union minister Kirti Vardhan Singh, and other family members.

He claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the government in Uttar Pradesh for a third straight time in 2027 with a huge majority. He said whether the SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress contest the polls together or separately, the results will be the same as in 2017.

Taking a dig at the SP chief, Maurya said "his PDA is a parivar development agency, in which Yadav is the chairman and his family members are directors".

Yadav focussed on PDA (backwards, Dalits, minorities) unity in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and won 43 of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh in an alliance with the Congress. Of the 43 seats, 37 seats were won by the SP. Since then, Yadav has launched a campaign for PDA unity.

Maurya accused the SP of patronising criminals and mafia dons.

Kunwar Anand Singh, a four-time MP and former agriculture minister of the state, died in Lucknow on July 7. His son, BJP MP from Gonda and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirtivardhan Singh, had lit the funeral pyre of his father.

Recalling the contribution of the late leader, Maurya said his life was dedicated to social service and the welfare of farmers.

Later, the deputy chief minister reviewed development projects with officials and visited an exhibition of such projects organised by the administration.