JOIN USMayawati slams Akhilesh over foreign tour remark, says right thinking needed for development
BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday took a swipe at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for linking his overseas trips with the building of Kanpur Metro and Lucknow Expressway, stressing right thinking and vision were required for overall development, not foreign tours.
She was referring to Yadav's comments in the state Assembly on Tuesday during his welcome speech on the election of Satish Mahana as Speaker of the House.
Reading out the House Speaker's political experience, Akhilesh Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, pointed out that Mahana has visited 35 countries.
"I never knew this. Else, I would have mentioned it whenever there was any noise over foreign visits," he said.
Yadav added, "Good that I went abroad... because hadn't it been the case, the state would not have got Lucknow Expressway and Kanpur Metro by the Samajwadi Party."
The Samajwadi Party had been at the receiving end of barbs by the BJP leaders who had targeted him during the election campaign over his foreign visits.
Mayawati on Wednesday said that like iron will was required for freeing the state of riots and violence, right-thinking was needed for development.
In a tweet in Hindi, she said, "Under the guise of several foreign visits of the newly-elected Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana, Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav's attempt to justify his foreign tours on the pretext of development is an attempt to cover up the shortcomings of which BJP has been targeting him."
2. समग्र विकास के लिए सही सोच व विज़न जरूरी जो बिना विदेशी दौरे के भी संभव। ऐसा बीएसपी सरकार ने ताज एक्सप्रेसवे, गंगा एक्सप्रेसवे आदि के जरिए साबित करके दिखाया है। जिस प्रकार दंगा, हिंसा व अपराध-मुक्ति के लिए आयरन विलपावर जरूरी, उसी तरह विकास हेतु भी संकीर्ण नहीं, सही सोच जरूरी।
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) March 30, 2022
"Right thinking and vision is necessary for holistic development which is possible even without foreign tours. This has been proved by the BSP government through Taj Expressway, Ganga Expressway etc. Just as an iron will is necessary for freedom from riots, violence and crime, right thinking is necessary for development," Mayawati said in another tweet in Hindi.
The BSP chief has been continuously attacking Akhilesh Yadav, especially after her party's electoral debacle in the Assembly polls.
Soon after the results were announced, the BSP supremo had said that fear of a 'jungle raj' if the Samajwadi Party came to power made her party supporters shift to the BJP.
Meanwhile, the BSP declared its candidate for the Azamgarh Lok Sabha bypoll, after the seat was vacated by Akhilesh Yadav following his election to the state assembly.
Former MLA Guddu Jamali has been declared a candidate by the Mayawati-led party for the seat.
An MLA between 2017 and 2022, Jamali was the BSP legislature party leader in the last Uttar Pradesh assembly but was sacked shortly before the polls.
He subsequently contested the 2022 assembly polls as an AIMIM candidate from the Mubarakpur seat within the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency but lost to the Samajwadi Party. He later returned to the BSP fold.
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