Adityanath cuts short Karnataka campaign
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanth rushed back from Karnataka on Friday night, cutting short his election tour amid opposition flak for staying away from his own state even after a storm claimed 75 lives there. He will visit affected areas on Saturday morning, state’s principal secretary information Avanish Awasthi said.
Adityanath will review relief efforts in the district and then leave for Kanpur and other areas. He was earlier scheduled to campaign in Karnataka till Saturday.
Parts of western UP were battered in Wednesday’s storm, which also struck the adjoining Rajasthan districts. Over 40 people died in Agra district alone.
Adityanath was criticised in UP and in Karnataka, where he is campaigning with PM Narendra Modi ahead of the the assembly elections on May 12.
“I am sorry your CM is needed here in Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah had tweeted. “I am sure he will return soon & attend to his work there.”
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, while condoling the deaths, tweeted, “CM should immediately return to UP leaving aside campaigning in Karnataka. People elected him to resolve the problems of their state and not for politics of Karnataka.”
If he doesn’t rush back even under such circumstances, “he should form his own mutt there (in Karnataka) for all times”, Yadav tweeted on Thursday.
Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati said despite the calamity, Modi and Adityanath were busy in the Karnataka campaign “only to serve their selfish electoral interests”. In a statement, she said not much should be expected from the government “which has such a narrow mindset”. This is the reason why both the Centre and the state governments of UP and Rajasthan “have remained totally lax and irresponsible” after the loss of life and property, she added.
UP Congress Committee president Raj Babbar described Adityanath as “one of the most irresponsible” CMS in the country and a “part-time CM”. “The people elected him to resolve the problems of the state but the CM and his ministers are flouting the mandate and are functioning in the capacity of members of the election campaign committee,” Babbar said in a statement.