If Congress has PK, we have our ‘ Bua’, says Akhilesh
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday targeted the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for claiming that major projects of the Samajwadi Party government were initiated during its (BSP’s) tenure.
In a lighter vein, he said while Congress had hired Prashant Kishor for working out its poll strategy, his ‘Bua’ (BSP chief Mayawati) and other opposition parties were turning out to be strategists of his government in Uttar Pradesh.
“If Congress has hired PK (Prashant Kishor), we have our ‘Bua’. Her party is claiming that Lucknow Metro project was conceived during tenure of her government in 2008. If Lucknow Metro was conceived during BSP regime in 2008, why could it not be completed in 2012,” asked the chief minister, while taking a dig at the BSP for claiming that Lucknow Metro, expressway and Gomti river front projects were conceived during the Mayawati government’s tenure.
Yadav was speaking at a seminar — Uttar Pradesh Budget 20162017 — that Lucknow University in collaboration with UNICEF had organised here. He gave a detailed account of how his government had opted for the best possible model of development despite financial constraints. “If the opposition has a better model, it should tell us,” said the chief minister while listing a number of projects that were being set up now in Lucknow and other parts of state.
Yadav referred to construction of the Delhi-Agra Yamuna Expressway (constructed during BSP government’s tenure) to make his point and said the company that constructed the expressway incurred losses of Rs 60,000 crore. The banks would find it difficult to recover a loan given for the project, he said. Yadav said his government tried to get Agra-Lucknow Expressway constructed on the public private partnership model. As market conditions did not support PPP model at that point, his government was getting the same constructed with its own funds, he said. The Samajwadi Party government acquired land for the project with consent of farmers, he said.
The chief minister referred to setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rae Bareli to make his point and said the BSP government had refused to allot land for the project. But when his government came to power, land was allocated, he said. “We gave the land. But I was not invited for the programme,” said Yadav while taking a dig at the Congress.
“We will, however, invite the leader who gave us Sainik schools (during UPA regime),” he said. Yadav said his government had allotted land for setting up AIIMS in Gorakhpur and ordered a power connection and construction of a four-lane road to the site.
Yadav said his government had brought to Lucknow a company like the HCL. “We will take the HCL to Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal when our government is formed after 2017 assembly elections,” he added.
He said efforts would be made to make functional the Out Patient Department (OPD) of Cancer Institute being set up in Lucknow, he said. Principal secretary finance Rahul Bhatnagar, Amit Mehrotra of UNICEF Director Institute of Management Sciences, Lucknow University professor Arvind Mohan and Lucknow University vice chancellor SB Nimse also spoke on the occasion.