Hindustan Times (West UP)

Electoral bonds proof of BJP’s corruption, our fight to save Constituti­on, says Akhilesh

- S Raju s.raju@htlive.com

MEERUT : In his second rally in the region of Uttar Pradesh where elections are due on April 19, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that this time it was a fight between those who wanted to save the Constituti­on and others who wanted to end it.

Addressing a rally in the Meerapur town in support of the party’s candidate from Bjinor on Saturday, Akhilesh said that electoral bonds had exposed the BJP’s corruption. He also attacked the ruling party over inflation, farmers’ issues, question paper leaks and unemployme­nt. He asserted that it would be the collective force of farmers and youth that would lead to the BJP’s defeat in the forthcomin­g Lok Sabha elections.

“More than one lakh farmers have committed suicide over the past ten years even as the prime minister had said that he would double farmers’ income.”

“The government made tall claims that the police constable recruitmen­t examinatio­n would be held amid tight security, but their claims stood exposed when the question papers leaked,” mocked Yadav and alleged that the leaks were a deliberate attempt to deprive youth of jobs.

Stating that 60 lakh people applied for the exam and even if each of them had three members in their family, then it’d mean that around 1.8 crore people would not vote for the BJP. “How are they then claiming that they’d win 400 seats under such an adverse situation?”

He also raised the issue of corruption “committed by the

BJP through electoral bonds” and attributed growing inflation to be an outcome of it. “Companies earned whopping profits after paying to the BJP in electoral bonds,” he said and assured the youth that the Agniveer scheme would be abolished if the INDIA bloc came to power.

He also expressed his concerns over the “deteriorat­ing” honour of police and mentioned an incident in Varanasi where BJP men thrashed a sub-inspector and no action was taken against them.

Questionin­g BJP leaders’ prediction of winning 400 seats, Akhilesh said if they were so confident then why jail the chief ministers of Delhi and Jharkhand in false cases.

“The battle (Lok Sabha elections of 2024) is between those who want to protect the constituti­on and others who’d like to end it. They want to snatch away our rights.”

Akhilesh said the wind of change had started blowing from West UP.

AKHILESH SAID THE WINDS OF CHANGE HAVE STARTED BLOWING FROM WEST UP

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