Modi raps rivals; Akhilesh, Congress hit back

MEERUT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked the BJP’s political rivals in Uttar Pradesh, saying that in the acronym SCAM ‘S’ stands for Samajwadi (Party), ‘C’ for Congress, ‘ A’ for Akhilesh and ‘ M’ for Mayawati. It drew a riposte from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who said the word stood for “Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi”. The Congress too hit back.

Campaigning ahead of the first phase of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with a ‘Vijay Shankhnaad Rally’ here, Modi slammed the Samajwadi Party and Congress for forging a pre-poll alliance.

He called upon the people to give his Bharatiya Janata Party a mandate similar to the 2014 general elections when the party won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi also took digs at the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party on demonetisation and sought the people’s support in making the country “corruption-free”.

Uttar Pradesh will witness a sevenphased election for 403 seats from February 11 to March 8.

Modi said it was a fight against “SCAM.” “Do you know what ‘SCAM’ stands for? It is ‘S’ for Samajwadi (Party), ‘C’ for Congress, ‘A’ for Akhilesh and ‘M’ for Mayawati.”

“Uttar Pradesh has to decide whether it wants a scam or lotus (election symbol of BJP). It wants scam or development,” Modi said.

Hours after Modi’s remarks, Akhilesh Yadav returned fire, saying that ‘ A’ and ‘M’ in the acronym stand for BJP President Amit Shah and Modi.

Addressing a rally at Auraiya, the 43-year-old Samajwadi leader said SCAM means — “Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi”.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vaddakan said: “Let us also tell them the meaning of SCAM in Hindi. “SCAM means Sattabhogi (hungry for power), Kapti dhongi (fraudster) and Amit Shah Modi.”

Modi, in his speech, said till a few months back the Congress was accusing the ruling Samajwadi Party of corruption and neglecting farmers, but the two have now “embraced each other”. — IANS