‘UP first to give befitting reply to BJP’

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said people of the state were the first to give a befitting reply to the BJP in the panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh and the people of Bihar did so thereafter in the assembly elections there.

“I have always said being communal is easier than being secular. The people of Uttar Pradesh have been the first ones to give a befitting reply to them on the intolerance issue. So I will thank the people of the state first and then say thanks to the people of Bihar for doing so,” the chief minister said while replying to a question at an award programme for women organised by a newspaper group here.

In a reference to the Bihar polls, Yadav said too many jokes were doing the rounds on the social media. The politicians should show their large heartedness as everybody was free to put his/her own perspective on the social media, he added.

The chief minister listed important schemes as his government’s achievements.

He said the SP led government had created an investor friendly atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh. “If multinational brands like Ikea have decided to set up their stores in UP, they must have obviously seen the potential in the state’s market along with other things,” he said.

Yadav promised to make efforts to distribute maximum party tickets to winnable women candidates in the 2017 assembly elections.

“No one can succeed by ignoring women, half of the total population,” he said. Asked about federalism, Yadav said he would not like to say anything on the issue as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was away on a foreign tour. Yadav said if he had to say anything on the issue, he would say so only after the PM returned to India.

Re plying to a question, Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav said she was getting all the cooperation from the chief minister and officers of state government with regard to the nutrition mission and other important issues. LUCKY MARRIAGE

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said luck turned in his favour soon after he got married.

“After my marriage in November 1999, I became the youngest MP in the Lok Sabha in February 2000. And now I have reached this position (youngest chief minister of the state),” said Yadav, adding he had tried to do his best in the nearly three-and-half year tenure of the Samajwadi Party government. A lot was, however, yet to be done, he admitted.