LUCKNOW: Calling on the people of Uttar Pradesh and BJP cadres to convert the BJP’s Parivartan Yatras into vijay yatras, Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh expressed delight over the response the four yatras got in the past one-and-a-half months.
Addressing party workers at Moti Mahal Lawns where all the four yatras converged, Rajnath said the yatras had laid the foundation for the “much-wanted” change, which he said would be the saffron party’s ghar wapsi, in the state.
Thousands of people lined up along streets to watch the road show that followed, with the central part of the city coming to a standstill. The 192-day yatras criss-crosed the state, which has 403 Assembly constituencies, covering 17,000 km and contacting over two crore people before reaching the capital.
Meanwhile, taking a dig at the demonetisation move, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav termed the cashless economy goal as a “bigger dream” than Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “achche din” promise. “It is, however, for the government to see how it will be realised,” he said while distributing cheques to the families of 19 persons who allegedly lost their lives while queuing up outside ATMs or banks. He also gave `25 lakh each to the families of four freedom fighters.
In a seprate development, SP general secretary Amar Singh said that he was just a small party worker when asked about speculations about a pre-poll grand alliance involving the SP, Congress and the RLD. “I am a small party worker. Such big decisions are taken by senior party leaders like SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav,” he said while emerging from a meeting with the party’s state chief, Shivpal Yadav.
The SP Rajya Sabha member, who was recently appointed to the party’s Parliamentary Board, remained non-committal over Akhilesh’s stand that an alliance with the Congress would help the ruling party touch the 300 mark in the Assembly. “I think leaders should desist from making any such comment which they might have to withdraw in future,”Amar said in Lucknow.
Also, he denied having held any talks with Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmad Patel over the issue. It was Amar’s first visit to the capital after the escalation of Shivpal-Akhilesh rift in the party.