Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

CM asks DMs to check onion, tomato prices

- Manish Chandra Pandey manish.pandey@hindustant­imes.com

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed concern over the increase in prices of onions and tomatoes and asked officers to ensure that their prices are reined in. He also directed all district magistrate­s to ensure that at no level, hoarders and blackmarke­ters are allowed to stock the vegetables and allow price increase in the market. In case people are found to be hoarding these essential vegetables, the administra­tion should crack down on them and ensure relief to the people.

LUCKNOW: Temple town Ayodhya is expected to score over communally-polarised Muzaffarna­gar as the venue from where chief minister Yogi Adityanath is expected to launch his campaign for civic polls in Uttar Pradesh on November 14.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still waiting for a final round of consultati­on with the CM and BJP general secretary (organisati­on) Sunil Bansal before deciding the venue from where Yogi will start his campaign comprising 32 rallies.

Apart from a rally in each of the 16 municipal corporatio­ns –Ayodhya, Mathura, Saharanpur and Ferozabad have also become municipal corporatio­ns for the first time – Yogi is also expected to address nearly equal number of rallies for semi-urban bodies, as the Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayats are known.

If the BJP think tank settles for Ayodhya, Adityanath would also address rallies in Gonda and Bahraich to make it three rallies on the opening day, a routine he is expected to follow for 10 days from November 24.

BJP has also decided to entrust one minister each with the responsibi­lity of a municipal corporatio­n.

While industrial developmen­t minister Satish Mahana has been tasked with the responsibi­lity of ensuring that BJP does well in Ayodhya, power minister Shrikant Sharma has been made in-charge of Mathura while Varanasi has been given to urban developmen­t minister Suresh Khanna.

A day before launching the campaign, Yogi would visit Chhattisga­rh to attend a function organised by a media house on November 13 before getting busy with the civic poll which the BJP has decided to use to connect with the people ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, which political experts say, could even be preponed.

“I have a strong feeling that the Lok Sabha elections may be preponed. If that happens, the by-polls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur that are required after the resignatio­n of Yogi and deputy chief minister Kehsav Prasad Maurya as MPs, will not be held,” a BJP leader from Gorakhpur said.

In Gorakhpur, Yogi is expected to hold about four rallies as he is ostensibly aware that the political opponents may focus in the area from where Yogi is also the head priest of Gorakhnath temple.

Adityanath, who has announced several schemes for developmen­t of Hindu pilgrimage sites, will also visit Devipatan temple in Tulsipur, Balrampur, on Friday.

 ?? HT FILE ?? BJP workers celebrate during the civic poll campaign in the state capital.
HT FILE BJP workers celebrate during the civic poll campaign in the state capital.

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