‘SP, BSP don’t like my visits to Ayodhya’

FAIZABAD: Launching the BJP’s civic poll campaign from Ayodhya, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said SP and BSP did not like his visits to the temple town.

The CM was in Ayodhya and Faizabad to kickstart the party’s campaign for the three-phase civic election in the state due on November 22, 26 and 29. Ayodhya goes to polls in the first phase.

Starting his address with the chants of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Matram’ to charge up the crowd, Yogi said previous governments neglected Ayodhya for no reason and they must not be forgiven. “In the last 15 years, civic bodies have seen embezzlement and no work,” he added.

He accused the previous SP government of blocking all projects of the Modi government.

Listing out his government’s achievements, the CM said 20 lakh free electricity connections were issued in the last seven months.

Raising the issue of traffic jams and stray cattle on the streets, Yogi said all civic bodies would have cowsheds for stray cattle

and ‘pheri neeti’ would be introduced for vendors to resolve the issue of traffic jams. “We will not displace street vendors but will organise them under the ‘pheri neeti’,” he said. Mahant Suresh Das of Digambar Akhara and mahant Dharamdas of Hanumangarhi shared the stage with the CM. It is for the first time that Ayodhya has been merged with the Faizabad civic body making it Ayodhya-Faizabad Municipal Corporation. Elections for the new body are being held for the first time. Rishikesh Upadhyay, an old ABVP and RSS functionary, is BJP’s mayoral candidate.